Damn am I grateful Wayne is here. If it were just Mark and me it would have been so much harder.

After an hour I asked Mark if he needed anything. He wanted the sandwich Wayne had made for h
 So I heated it up, wrapped it in tinfoil and handed it to him.

"Have you ever seen bioluminescence?" he asked. I said yes to which he replied it was pretty intense right now.

So I put on my gear and joined him. After a fewomenta I suggested I could take the wheel since things had died down so he could eat his sandwich more easily. He showed me how to keep the boat on course through the wind and waves by picking a star and using it as a nav aid.

I literally picked a star over the North Atlantic to steer by.

The winds are supposed to die down later. Wayne is with Mark at the stern helm and I'm in the pilot house taking a short break.

I just gave Mark my gloves and some hand warmers. He had lost one of his gloves.

I handed them to him through the aft porthole.

He is exhibiting a zen like calm in the face of all of this.

My heart rate is a bit elevated.

Momentary lessening. It went from crashing to relatively mild there in a few seconds but my suspicion is this is just a momentary minimum.

After discussing it Wayne and decided to post watches in the pilot house to be in earshot if Mark needs anything. Since I can't sleep like Wayne does, we figure it's best to have Wayne sleep now and I'll stand watch from now until three at which point Wayne should be pretty well rested. The thought is once Mark is too tired, if conditions permit, to just let us motor for a few hours so Mark can get some rest.

The winds have picked up again. The boat is pitching and crashing with waves breaking on top of the pilot house. Water was streaming in but Wayne and secured them as best we could. It:s still dropping.

I am sitting here with my foul weather lowers on just waiting to see if/when Mark needs something.

It's dark. Wayne is is feeling his confidence challenged because the compass lied to him. The chartplotter at the outside helm gives a course that jumps around confusingly as if it'cycling through different things. I had the same problem.

I've never before seen Wayne express something like that. 'That feeling you have right now, that's how I always feel." I said to him.

"I'll get over it.' he replied.

Wayne is making Mark a sandwich. We are in for a very long night. especially Mark.

I am very much feeling challenged by my lack of experience. There is so much I am doing here in serious circumstances that I have only done once or twice before. Mundane things like furling the sail or tightening the main sheet are still not automatic. As a result still error prone.

A wave crashed over the bow and was strewn up over the pilothouse. Despite being securely fastened water for in around the hatches.

Mark has relieved Wayne. The temperature is dropping rapidly. The sky is grey again as the sun sets. The wind sounds like it's picking up. More squalls?

I gave Mark some of the hand warmers I brought.

I suspect we are in for a long night.

Shit got real. Mark called me to help reef the main and bring in the headsail as winds built dramatically. At this point hours later I no longer remember the exact order of events. As that stoem came closer it was clear Wayne and I needed to be on the ready in case Mark needed is. So we put on full foul gear sets and put on life vests with lanyards. No sooner had we done that Mark needed us to help bring in the main even further. More misunderstanding of orders and we needed two attempts but the mainsail was reefed pretty far and the smaller headsail deployed. Not knowing what conditions would be like later Mark showed me how to tie myself off using the lanyard and then handed me the wheel in the worst most confused seas I've ever been in. He needed the rest because in seas like this at night it could get really challenging. So I tried my best to adapt. I confess this scared me. I was very concerned about making a mistake me either breaking the boat or causing someone to get hurt.

So I was left at the wheel and tried to step up to the challenge as best I could

It seemed like forever before I could get a hang of how to handle these waves which would come up on us looking like walls of water higher than my head. These walls seemed to come in threes and proved very challenging for me to adapt to. The boat would pitch hard apparently because I wasn't responding correctly but I eventually got the hang of it to a passable degree

This was hard.

I need bigger foul weather boots.

Some of those waves were 😳.

I wanted to learn how to sail so today I sailed through a squall in the North Atlantic in the Gulf Stream for what felt like ages but may have only been two hours, maybe three.

I saw sunshine in the distance and thought things would get easier once we reached. My hunched proved correct. There was a period of seriously gusty wind howling through the rigging and then things calmed down significantly but the temperature also dropped.

At about 17:30 Wayne took over and is currently at the the helm while Mark is trying to get some sleep for the challenging night ahead.

"You wanted to get to the point where I'd leave you guys piloting the boat while I go to bed. We'll, you're there. I'm going to bed."

Wayne has vastly more sailing experience than I do and I am so grateful he is here.

A storm is chasing us. I heard a loud thunderclap moments ago. Mark had me unplug his phone from the charger in case we get hit by lightning. I will nolighed Wayne's as

foul gear on. life vest on. storm coming.

"Adventure begins where the plan ends."

Shit just got very real. We got hit be a squall. Winds shifted dramatically. Mark asked me to pull in the main (sail) which I did but the boom started slapping around dramatically and dangerously. Mark came back and took care of that while I pulled the main in the rest of the way. I thought I had made a mistake but he tells me I did not.

Then we lost the auto-helm. It is not repairable at sea so we are going to have to pilot Tabasco to safety by hand on a schedule of two hours on and four hours off.

There is thunder and lightning around us.

A little squal which is making my coffee making efforts more challenging.

The boom started smacking around so Mark went forward to deploy the preventer in light rain.

Some app thoughts:

- implement checklists pre-ride but also at points along your trip. "Remember to pre-order tires at this point." Make checklists objects that other people can use.

- Todo objects for things to do along the route. More specific POI.

- add video capabilities to professional content creators for self guide tours.

Making myself a pot of treacherous coffee after my gimbaled breakfast, which turned out quite well.

To make coffee requires going astern to treacherously empty the grounds and spray out the carafe.

Wayne has his foul weather gear and is sitting at the wheel. I raised the camera and he loses. 😉

Took a shower and switched from sailing clothes to my regularly scheduled attire in anticipation of dropping temperatures.

Wayne says he saw a cardboard box this morning while helping set the sails. "The excitement was almost too much to bear
" 😂

Just saw dolphins. Mark is running up to the bow with my GoPro.

Winds are predicted to increase up to 30kts starting this afternoon. We'll put up the smaller headsail and reed the main when that happens to keep a 15deg lean angle moving along at 9 to 12kts.

After most the day and all the night motoring, the sails are out. Peace and quiet return. 6 - 8 knots right now. As the wind continues to back around we'll pick up more speed through the day. - WB

Slept like a rock. When I awoke we were under sail and both Mark and Wayne were gearing foul weather jackets. It's very grey outside.

Wayne's watch - fair sea and following wind. I'm looking forward to Mark getting up so we can put up some sail to ease the boats rolling.