It is getting more and more challenging !

I have stored away my calculator, and instead, Jean-Paul and myself are spending a lot of time discussing the various possible strategies, looking at the various weather forecast models that are available to us. We finally settled down on the GFS one, which seems to us to make more sense.
We finally decided to start the engine and run it at 1800 rpm. We are following a course some 15 degrees north of the direct course to the island of Ushant. We are expecting to be pushed further north within 24 hours, and agiain pushed north again the next day. Then on the 4th, we should be able to sail or motor sail on a port tack down to either Aber Wrach or Camaret. At this point, we are no longer thinking Rouen, which remains our final destination, but we are just trying to extricate ourselves from the set up in which we are trapped, with light wind and then strong winds in the nose and we try to remain in a situation where we can make some progress towards east, noth of Britanny.
I have marked our plan on the electronic chart so that we can check and see if the GFS model was reliable and our plan correct.
Today was Jean-Paul birthday. We have ran out of Chamagne, so we will celebrate with cookies and Ricard.
The weather is beautiful, excellent day to go sailing. The sky has a lot of blue and the seas are gentle. We have not seen a lot of sea life lately, actually, we have seen none but as we get nearer shore, we should begin to see some birds and maybe some fish.
Nights are getting colder and colder, like 60 last night, which for us feels very close to freezing. Karen is feeling better which is wonderful. For someone who is doing her first transatlantic crossing in the most challenging conditions that I have seen in 6 of them, she is proving to be a very good soldier. I hope that once this is over, she will ask for some more.


----
This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using GMN's XGate software.
Please be kind and keep your replies short.