Position: 1200 UTC N 017° 07' W 048° 33'

Are we there yet? No, not really. Aaaaaaghhhhh, not today, but maybe in a week! It is little, but only little frustrating to think about our ETA, Estimated Time of Arrival, when lots of our friends have already finished or are about to finish in St Lucia. Yesterday at 12.00 UTC Escape, whom I think you blog readers are familiar with by now, had 79 Miles left to go, which means that they, if nothing unexpected has happened, must have finished during yesterday night. Another friend boat of ours, Go Beyond where even faster and finished yesterday morning. I want to take the opportunity to send our best regards, hugs and kisses to our friends on Escape and Go Beyond and say welcome ashore! Escape and Go Beyond, you have done such a great job, we are proud of you! But please, try not to get too excited by the rum punch that is served upon arrival, try to save some for us! However, I will not put any effort in trying to compare ourselves with the larger boats, who have greater qualifications than us. Instead I will have a look at our closer competitors, Ranja and Zahara. Both of them, and especially Zahara have chosen a more south route, while we have stuck to the more direct middle route, or let me call it the Columbus' route. The south route have offered heavier winds and consequently Ranja and Zahara have been able to cover more Miles than us. One can argue whether we should have picked a southern route, and we have had the discussions onboard. And yeah, we could also have gone a few degrees more south and let the butter melt little more before turning right. But on the other hand, a more southern route would most certainly have been a lot more rolling and uncomfortable than our journey has been so far. And when doing an Atlantic crossing in a small boat not aimed at racing in the first place, the journey should definitely be comfortable! Secondly, a more southern route maybe not only be more uncomfortable, but also more trying for the boat, and also dangerous. All of the reported boat problems, like rudder and rig damages, and even abandoning of vessels have occurred south from us. And thirdly, we haven't actually lost that much to our competitors, especially not to Zahara who have a longer way to go now, we have still huge chances to beat them! Yesterday we did 131 Miles, Ranja (the owner of a parasail) 133 Miles and Zahara 139 Miles. At the moment Zahara is 24 miles ahead of us, which is equal to about 5 hours sailing for us, close huh? We are so excited about today's position reports! Oh, may I also remind you that there are of course other boats in our division that are still behind us, and we intend on keeping it that way!

Before I am off to my watch I will give you a little short review of what happened yesterday. Maria's fictitious bithday was celebrated with party games, lip stick try outs a Johnny Depp movie and of course, her favorite chocolate cake. Yesterday was also the day I decided I could not postpone my shower any longer. No matter how suitable greasy hair is when it comes to the fact that it stays in the way you want it, there is also a point when laziness becomes filthiness, and that point you really want to avoid! Over and Out! /First Mate Sofia, who now smells like paradise!