How big is 350 m2? For my fellow Americans who have not as yet adopted the metric system, that’s close to 3200 square feet. That's bigger than most houses. It also happens to be the size of the spinnaker that we just hoisted on the Oceans of Hope. As a result our speed is now at 10+ knots, and we are flying!

Aside from the laughter, the roar of our massive bow wave is all we hear, and why shouldn't we be laughing? At the moment we are in the moment, and MS has been left in our wake.

A day has passed since I last wrote and I have just come off watch at 10:30 hours, we have raised the spinnaker and are making good speed at 8 knots. For most of my watch I was a zombie, sleep does not come easy. And the fatigue I feel is bone deep. We have been at sea now for almost five days, without sight of land or ships or even a plane

Everything out here is bigger than life: the ocean during the day, and a million stars at night. As I look out over the endless seascape, I can see isolated rain clouds. Some of which we run into, most, however, we don't. And once again I can see a rainbow in the distance. I struggle to make sense of this metaphor before me. Like most things, although the answers may be right in front of us, they are some times difficult to see.

Perhaps sailing is symbolic of life's journey. And maybe that is what appeals to me. Out here the direction we take is up to us. And whatever the direction, if we are true to ourselves, it will be the right one. Yes, we will run into squalls. But most will pass us by. And if we pay attention, we will not miss the rainbows that appear everyday. Bone tired or not, I would not have missed this for the world.

Report from Bertram:
We're on the 165th western longitude as of today, just 3 longitudes from the 168th. When we reach that far west, we have come exactly 180 longitudes from our starting point of Copenhagen on the 12th eastern. That is halfway around the world! We are currently sailing with a pole on the genoa and the mainsail all the way out, Oceans of Hope as a big dark butterfly going 6 knots through the night towards the halfway milestone.

Local time onboard is 03:15 and our current position is 16'20.013S 165'29.177