Sophie is currently in the middle of the entrance to the Bay of Bengal as we continue on this fast and uneventful passage. Sophie covered 168 miles from noon to noon, for an average speed of 7 knots.

It is 4:00 AM Sophie time. We will change our ship’s clock today because we have traveled so far west that sunrise is now at 7:30 AM and sunset is at 7:30 PM. Our current position is 06 45.228n, 088.28.666e. We are sailing at 6.1 knots on a course of 262m with an 11 knot breeze slightly aft of our beam. The wind and waves picked up a bit yesterday afternoon, so we tucked a reef into the main around 2:00 PM and kept it there throughout the night until I came onto my shift just now. Even with the reef in, we were hitting 10+ knots of boat speed in 15 knots apparent on a broad reach. But the waves were 2+ meters and steep, so having the reef in gave us an easy motion with no stress on the boat or crew. It was a gentle and uneventful night.

We are 905 miles from our destination of Male, and we have arranged for an agent to bring government officials to the boat to help us clear into the country when we arrive on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. We are only 394 miles from Sri Lanka. The Indian weather service is forecasting no storms and consistent weather for the next 48 hours, and the longer term weather models are showing more of the same. It looks like we picked a great time to leave.

I feel like I am on vacation with so many crew on board. I slept for 8 hours last night before my sunrise shift. Every time I am about to do one of the chores I normally do on a passage, I turn around to find someone is already on it. I go to chop up vegetables for the chili? Kate and Nic are already on it. I go to do the dishes and empty the dishwasher? Rich and Travis already beat me to it.

I could get used to this.

Jenna and the kiddies had an excellent day at Sophie School with no meltdowns. The kids had a great attitude, and Leo even stood his sunset shift. I literally mean “stood” after I gently reminded him that being on watch doesn’t mean you lie down on the flybridge and read your Kindle.

Still no fish, but we only had the meatlines out for half the day yesterday. I didn’t want to deal with landing a fish with a rod during 10 knots of rock and roll.

Dinner last night was chili. Tonight we will eat spaghetti and meatballs, unless we land that fish.

I just completed reading Elvis Costello’s autobiography “Unfaithful Music.” I like the fact that one of my favorite singers is married to one of my dad’s favorite singers.

Overall Sophie’s crew has fallen into the rhythm of a passage. We eat. We sleep. We hang out. We do school. We stand watches. I had forgotten how much I love this life, and how lucky we are to be living it.