Day 4 started exactly where Day 3 left off — gentle sailing, calm seas, and happy crew. Our hitchhiker was soon discovered by his family, who apparently decided this was the new neighborhood and moved in with impressive volume.

They cleared out again during the day, but one of them (possibly the original stowaway — hard to tell) came back for the night shift.

As evening settled in, the clouds began gathering. By the 2:00 a.m. watch change, a rather mean squall appeared on the horizon, seemingly heading straight for us. Time to reef. Down came the Code 0, out rolled the genoa, and a reef went into the main. The wind picked up obligingly — just enough to justify the effort — and then, as if reconsidering its choices, the squall dissolved and took the wind with it.

So now we’re motor-sailing on one engine, at least on a boat hardly rocking.

That said, we’ve had more glorious sailing days than we dared hope for — and who knows, perhaps another generous puff of wind will wander by during the day. We remain optimistic!