Had a beautiful afternoon sailing to windward. We averaged 9 knots for the last 5 hours. The wind eventually picked up enough (20+ knots) that I reefed the main down to the first reef (my repair of the clew on the main many months ago is still going strong). A while later I grew concerned about the jib so I reefed that down one also. Shortly thereafter, the wind slacked and shifted aft. This is the first time on this trip I've had true wind aft of the beam!
I shook out the reefs and trimmed the sails accordingly and we're back to 8.5 to 9.5 knots with the apparent wind directly off the starboard beam (boat speed pushes the apparent wind forward). This also helps smooth out the ride a little bit.
I've been racing a 40m (small) cargo ship, the Signet Titan, all afternoon that is just over the horizon to port on the same course as me. Feels great to keep pace with a ship.
I'm currently 43NM due south of Grand Turk.
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