Yesterday afternoon the weather began to moderate for real, and by the change of the watch at 1900 the wind was fair for us to sail along the rhumb line. So we set the four lowers, plus the square foretopsail, and off we went. It was a beautiful night, with a following sea pushing us along, warm air, a skyful of stars and around midnight a half moon rising.
The sound of the sea, of water rushing along the hull, of people talking quietly on deck and the ship's clock ringing out the bells was a very wonderful contrast to the endless repetition of the Divertimento in four-stroke time, felinisimo, performed by the Peoria Symphony Orchestra.. 

This morning dawned beautiful by quite cool, and since then the wind has dropped out steadily. This did give us an opportunity to set the topgallant sail, otherwise pronounced "t'gallant" or even "tgarns'l" by certain denizens of Baltimore. If was the first time in my tenure on board that we unraveled this particular ball of string, and it went fine, thanks to the good efforts of Mike Moreland, our 2nd mate and bosun.

Last night's mileage under sail has removed fuel consumption from the list of obstacles between us and Lisbon. We're now aiming at arrival there before the customshouse closes on Friday. That said, this is still a low-powered vessel on a big ocean with 160 miles remaining between us and the worldly delights of Lisbon.
 

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