Early this morning we crossed the “magic” line from coastal weather to the tradewinds, those more or less constant winds that blow across the subtropical oceans. Big breeze and a few light showers announced the change in weather pattern and we are now moving quickly along on a beeline to the islands.

Once the morning showers cleared, we have been treated to a beautiful sunny day with the boat flying along at speeds of up to 8 knots.

We did have one major issue today. Our wind vane steering had a major mechanical failure. A small set screw came loose, and a part dropped out of alignment. When the paddle tried to turn, it was trapped and the main casting cracked. Nothing to be done about that out here. Our trusty Wendy is our first casualty. We’ll be relying on the electric autopilot from now on. The primary down side is that we will be running the engine daily to charge up the batteries. Oh well.

1844 miles to go!