After some spectacular squalls—though with not much wind for us—the day turned out to be pleasantly uneventful.

We kept things simple by leaving the Genoa up for most of the day, staying tucked inside the closed cockpit as dark clouds lingered and occasional rain showers passed through. Later on, we briefly set the Code 0 to pick up a bit more speed before switching back to the Genoa setup for the night.

That turned out to be a good call. Captain Joe, under the watchful eye of Mark, encountered a couple of solid squalls in the early hours, with winds reaching 27 knots.

Overall, the wind seems to be easing, and with the Genoa poled out, our pace is rather slow. Still, it’s the safest configuration for now—and “only six more days to go,” we’ll keep repeating that like a mantra for at least another day or two.

I’ll admit, day 15 hit me with full Groundhog Day energy, and by evening I was pretty done with the whole routine. But then again, we’re down to less than 800 nautical miles of what might be the longest sail of our lives…ever! —so perspective helps.

And when I saw Joe coming to bed at 11:00 pm, beaming after a sky full of stars and some exciting squall action, that lingering “are we there yet?” feeling quickly faded.