ARC Day 17: Yea, it's official we are cruisers

When we last talked, the winds were dropping as night fell. As forecasted, the winds continued to fade, and we had to start an engine. They’ve been running ever since—more than 24 hours now.

We enjoyed a very peaceful night with no squalls. To our west, we had a beautiful three-quarter moon, and to our northeast, a significant lightning storm lit up the horizon, persisting throughout the night.

Us, to the West we see a bright moon:

Us to the east, lightening flash from a violent thunder storm (more than 50 NM away):

Most of the boats in the fleet are north of us, and some of those were right in the middle of that thunderstorm.

Now that is a squall!

Papillon: Still smiling

Comments from Papillon skipper: "Massive squall for 25 minutes that deployed life-vests, MOB1 device and DAN-buoy! And then we managed to find it and restore it again 30 min after it came loose! Good visibility but unknown why it deployed itself due to the wind (wave maybe?) So if anyone saw a MOB-AIS signal for a minute or so - we’re all good, just wet!"

With little wind, it’s gotten decidedly warm on the boat. This was the moment we realized we were definitely cruisers—we stopped the boat for a swim!