Position: N 47° 41' W 012° 02' UTC 1200

Nautical miles left: 322

For the last 24 hours we've had winds of about 30 knots, the waves have become bigger of course. Like dad wrote they are mountains with waves on top. Cantare likes a lot of wind, most of the time we don't reef before 25 knots of wind. But now we have one reef in the main and have furled the head to the first reef point. We are doing more than 5 knots although we are very close hauled. The wind is from the north, most of the time we manage to go directly towards Falmouth on a 67 degrees course. It is amazing how good Cantare moves, not loosing too much speed when the waves come rushing towards us. But, sometimes and recently more frequently, she comes to a halt, a sudden crash, we wonder whether we've hit something before we realize that it is nothing as serious, only one of those extreme waves. The extreme waves are almost twice the height of the normal and usually they brake into Cantare's side, it feels like hitting a wall when the hull shudders and I imagine a big hole on the bow that will sink the yacht in no time. But I usually come to my senses at the same time as the top of the wave lands in the cockpit, if I'm too slow to bend down behind the spray hood it lands on me, cold water trickling down the neck and making me scream. When it's sunny outside I enjoy sitting with my face tilted a bit upwards, but that's a bad idea, especially on my morning watch when I have to sit behind the wheel not to be shadowed by the spray hood, nowadays it's a question of minutes before I get a free ocean spa cleaning of my face. Saltwater is healthy isn't it? A few minutes ago dad was sitting on one of the safe spots when we hit a big wave, there was so much water in the air a short while later that it even got to him there in the corner, his hair was soaked and flat on his head and his glasses where covered with water. We both laughed, what else is there to do. The waves keep excelling each other, when dad stood up to look for ships we hit another one, he could see a lot of water flying up over the yacht and almost reaching the spreaders. It's a wild ride, but a fun one, especially for the person sitting inside. / The Captain (who watch dad get wetter and wetter)