Chris Museler sees the finish, just ahead

We all have our moments. For me, it was cursing when I was trying to get my FWG bibs away from the nasty water on the cabin sole near the head and accidentally dropped the lot into said nastiness. I cursed for the first time on the trip. After some creative imagining of how the fleet has spread out, we all have been able to carry on with a glimmer of hope that all is not lost for us in this race, though we all are laughing and carrying on, too. This afternoon saw a much needed break in our monotony with the realization that we had just pulled even with two boats from our division, both rating faster than us,

“We’re not last,” we tell ourselves!  Gone are the stories of college and ex-wives. Now we are all galvanized. A healthy dinner with peperoni on peanut butter and crackers, and an entré of baked beans and hot dogs, has strangely fit well with our stomachs and all are focused on sail trim and weight placement.

Only 37 miles to go, and we all know the last bit will be tedious.  Bowman Steve Foraste said to our cook, “We just hit 100 hours. I never would have guessed it, but thank you for making all those great meals. We needed it.”  Steve sailed the last race aboard Dorade when they spent most of the time without electronics. This has become another long race for different reasons, but he'll take the break. With twin five-year-olds at home and a busy job designing blood centrifuges for the medical devices industry, Steve has that familiar relaxed, dropped-shoulders look at sea. You know, the look you see on people who have been there before and take what they get, and don't get upset. We won't get nostalgic with this team.

All of them have a bit of Steve, and Jim Grundy leads by example, too. When we ripped our fractional Code Zero in half the other night, he was fine with it.  When the GPS antenna for the VHF ripped off—the same shrugged shoulders reaction. Good thing we all have some of Steve and Jim's laissez-faire.  Below has been less than pleasant, with a temperature over 90 degrees the last two days, and damp with water on the floor and often on your head when you sleep. We don't revel in this aspect and I'm glad. I’m not sure if these guys dug life below, I would want to spend much more time with them.

Above deck, we'd all take at least, let’s say, 37 miles.