Conditions couldn’t be much better, a nice wind, ok swell, suns out and it’s not too hot. While I am not taking anything for granted I am very relaxed considering we are still hundreds of miles from land. It’s really a result of little by little. Yes when I was 20 I was an excellent sailor having spent summer after summer in the Solent learning from some of the best British skippers there are. But then I have it up for work and didn’t return to the water till 5 or so years ago. By that point I had to build up again, we started with the easiest flotilla Sunsail have in Croatia. I still remember the feeling at the end of each day when the boat was safely moored - relief. We then gradually progressed to a bareboat charter, trying out a Sunsail catamaran, buying our own little HR26 to use in the Solent and finally getting Epiphany. She was so big for the first trip I hired a skipper to help move her from Greece to Italy. Then we slowly got to know her. A week trip to Elba, our first overnight to Sardinia, multiple overnights racing to Gibraltar and finally our first ocean passage to Lanzarote (where we had fairly major issues). It was all step by step. Now here I am, my 6th ocean passage in 9 months. Totally comfortable. Yes things can and do go wrong but I’m confident we can deal with it. Tomorrow some stronger winds and bigger swell will come, it’s ok we will reduce sail and it will be ok.
For this leg I let the competition part go, we have simply been cruising. Most of the time with 2 reefs in the main, just keeping her nicely powered. Yes we miss a little speed but it’s so relaxing this way. Allow us all to take in the final few days of the experience.