En-route to Portsmouth, New Hampshire 43°17.3N, 70°23.9W

I'm writing this from my bunk as we surge SW at 6.5 knots, beating to windward, despite that the forecast called for a northeasterly. It's beautiful and sunny, but cold; we can see for miles. Max is on the helm, the fishing line is over, and we're sliding along nicely, clicking down the miles. From my bunk I can look up through the hatch and see the genoa tell-tales, and I can see Max has us trimmed nicely, so we're taking all we can out of the breeze despite the close angle we're sailing (Captain Bligh has a habit of yelling for more speed as required!).

I also have a butterflied leg of New Zealand lamb marinating in the fridge; we don't always eat like this, but it was on special at Whole Foods, and we are Kiwis! We tack frequently to ensure it marinates evenly on both sides. Try that with your fridge at home. Assuming we get to Portsmouth, New Hampshire (just on the other side of the river from Maine) we'll bang it on the barbie and the two Kiwi boys will be as happy as can be! I also know we have a cheeky little Pinot in the bilges that will do nicely.

This is like the food issue isn't it. For some reason I'm always hungry when sailing. We ultimately had the snapper ceviche for breakfast.

Something has happened in the last few days. It's suddenly become cold up here. Last night I broke out my down puffer jacket for the first time since early spring, and Max is wearing his full foulies despite that it's a sunny, clear day. Glad we're heading south. Earlier we saw a flock of Canada geese formation flying down the same rhumb line we're on. Once we get below Cape Cod, we should pick up the beneficial effects of the Gulfstream, in the sea water temperature at least, and that should push the winter chill back another few weeks. Walking yesterday the leaves were turning!

The forecast is for a northerly component for the next several days, and sunny weather, so we'll be pushing south each day. In Portland we put in 6 new Trojan T-105 batteries. They weigh a ton, but combined with the LEDs, we're on top of our electrical/charging issues, I hope, for some years: they're not the cheapest things. There is still that flashing light on the freezer control panel -- wonder what that means?

On my watch, while Max had a kip, I whipped the ends of a a new dinghy painter, glued down a piece of insulation on the freezer door, and otherwise trimmed, navigated and marinated. Kind of how it is - the old saying is correct: cruising is the art of doing maintenance in beautiful places.