It is 3:40 on Saturday afternoon. Monica is sleeping in the port berth, taking a well-earned break from single-handing all morning while I slept off the effects of some mild seasickness. If you have been checking iboatTrack, you will have seen that we have veered east and west, away from the course to Newport.

Just like the leg to Bermuda, this return of the Bermuda One-Two has a pretty steady northwest wind. On the way down, it was pushing the boats to Bermuda. Now, we are sailing against it, and since Newport is to the Northwest, the result is we are zigging east and zagging west.

Right now, the seas are pretty calm, and the wind is moderate. This is only recent, though. We were sailing in 15 to 20 knot winds with some seas approaching 10 feet, if I’m guessing correctly. We had a minimum of sail up to keep the boat as upright as possible, and we still were doing well over 6 knots and averaging better than 5 knots for the first 18 hours.

Now we’re content with something over 4 knots in 8- to 10-knot breezes. Monica, who didn’t sleep at all when she was in the bunk last night, looks as though she’s out cold, and Robin is rocking her gently.

This morning we were visited by a pair of tropicbirds. We were told in Bermuda that they mate for life, have their nests in holes in the cliffs there and are endangered by development in Bermuda, where they are protected. The visit meant that I had to haul in Dan’s fishing lure. No big deal. Nothing has been biting yet.

All last night, we could see the running lights of the other boats in our class. With sunrise, however, only one sail was visible. And that has since disappeared after we tacked west in an attempt to get closer to our course.

I have to go on the record here with what a great sailor Monica is. What she lacks in experience, she more than makes up for with her willingness. The seasickness saps me of my enthusiasm. But Monica has been cheery throughout. What a pleasure.

Peter McCrea just checked in on Herb Hilgenberg’s afternoon weather report, so I’ll quit this until the forecast is completed.

Back again. If Herb is right, we’ve chosen a pretty good course. There is a dead patch to our west but we have winds in front of us. Moreover, tomorrow and Monday the winds will be more from the south, so we can turn and run directly toward the place where we want to enter the Gulf Stream. Our reception on the single sideband receiver is scratchy, so I can’t be certain I got all the details. But if some of it is right, we’ll be getting a lift some time tomorrow. We’ll let you know what happens.

I almost forgot to report that we had a mechanical problem with the autopilot earlier today. The system involves a piston that looks much like the one on a storm door. The fat end attaches to the side of the boat. The rod at the other end has a hole in it that fits over a pin on the tiller. With signals from an electronic compass, the piston shoves and pulls the tiller to steer.

The pin broke off. We had to hand steer for some time because the waves were so big that the wind vane paddle kept coming out of the water.

But now the wind vane is working great in light wind and we keep moving along. And with a screw and a couple of nuts that were just the right size, the pin is replaced and we can once again use the autopilot.

All will be happy to know we’ve both bathed. It wasn’t a shower, but we both feel better.