Panama Outbound - Day 1

Hi everyone,
At 1200 today we were at 10 10N 078 07W steering 100M, sailng under full main and yankee at 4.5 knots.  It is cloudy with occasional sun.  The wind was 7G9 from the ENE.  Our noon to noon daily run was 123nm by the log.

Close-hauled on port - heading east

We've been close hauled on port tack since yesterday afternoon.  Initially the wind was light but it filled in later in the afternoon to about 10 knots from the NNE-NE.  The swell has also decreased from 1.5m to 1.0m as forecast.  We've been using both autopilot and WindPilot vane gear.  The latter (with our smaller than standard air vane) starts to give up at 8 knots apparent wind.

Last night gave us a nearly full moon.  Sadly there was a thin layer of high cloud obscuring the stars but the moonlight shone through.  A very pleasant night at sea.

We've both fallen straight into our passage-making routine.  It often takes us a couple of days to start sleeping well but not this time!  Zen Again is sailing really well in these conditions, even with the wind down to 4G7 she logs 4 knots.

We expect to keep sailing E until tomorrow afternoon or evening.  We then expect to tack north in winds up to 20 knots.  The wind is supposed to veer and decrease, giving us a nice reach N toward Jamaica.