Tuesday, May 23 – 0800. 35deg 00min N/67deg 25min W.

We’re power reaching right now with working sails. Wind is just ahead of the beam at 22/25 knots. Surface analysis shows us about 50 miles from a cold front – which was supposed to go N of us, so we’re expecting perhaps gale force winds for a short period – and then a shift to the NW – on the nose – which should quickly go around to SW again.

Rebecca is hanging in there, about 10 miles back on radar.

While I’m writing this we’ve just noticed a big squall line on radar, about 10 miles ahead.Towering cumulonimbus clouds indicate some real squall activity. Think we’ll put the jib away until we see what happens.

Barometer has begun to rise, but this does not look like a cold front – yet.

I retract the last statement – classic roll cloud leading edge once we’re underneath. Very nasty looking. Abrupt wind shit 30 degrees to NW so we’re hard on the wind for our waypoint to cross the Gulf Stream.

Rebecca has spoken with Ken Campbell at Commanders Weather and he says this is the front, not much wind behind it, with a rapid shift back to the southwest and wind building to the 30’s. No real increase here – yet.

If we do get that shift sooner rather than later, we’re going to have one fast trip as the angle to Newport, once we cross the Gulf Stream, is about 20 degrees further aft. Surf City here we come (we hope)!

(View the weatherfaxes at http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov .)

(To read about the passage from the very different perspective of the Neri family aboard 38-foot Calvin, see Calvin Report #13.)