Happy July 4 from everyone out here on the All-American Offshore Team. We hope you are all up to some good American fun at home. The settling in process is well behind us, as is continental North America. We are over 500 miles into this race and at our present speed the computers put us at the finish line in five days. Not sure we’ll hold the current pace, but good god—that’s quick.

We’re right back where we ended yesterday in terms of sail selection and trim, currently averaging 18 knots in 16 knots of wind, headed almost due East under full main, genoa staysail (GS), and the blast-reacher (BR). Our beloved leader Charlie Enright threw us under the bus a bit this morning in more trying conditions: we went from the A7 (reaching kite) to the GS/BR combo, to the code-0, back to the A7, and he finally eased us back into the blast-reacher, where we’ve been ever since. Charlie “voluntarily” offered his services in packing the 7 afterwards, good guy that he is. Otherwise, life on the Vanquish is pretty simple. It’s pleasant sailing and the weather’s still warm. We’ve seen a few whales, dolphin pods, have had to back down a couple of times to remove debris from the keel, and we’ve finally sorted out the satellite comms.

Rambler is about 160-miles in front of us to the East (160!), Puma is 85-miles to the southeast with Beau Geste between us, Leopard is 70 miles to the South, and Sojana is 25 to the North. We obviously have our work cut out for us but morale is great and everyone’s just happy to be out here. Winds and waves are forecasted to build over the next 24 hours as the low we left Newport in slides further to the North and compresses with the Atlantic High to the Southwest. 25 knots on the quarter should make things a little more interesting!

See the photo gallery for a collection of photos from onboard Vanquish.