A brisk Tuesday afternoon out here off the New Jersey Coast … a sunny rebound from last night’s temperature drop. At the moment, we’re about 40 miles from New York City! It looks like we’ve been leading the fleet for a while now, though the winds have started to turn light and fluky … and as any sailor knows, anything can happen. A five-mile lead can disappear in a wind shift. In any case, it’s going to be exciting going from here on in, and we’re awaiting our first glimpse of the Manhattan skyline.

We hear we are being closely pursued by Lecoq Cuisine (#121) and 40 Degrees (#90) – two great boats with smart skippers. According to the Atlantic Cup Race Tracker, here’s how things are looking at present.

Atlantic Cup Race Tracker – 5.14.13 – 4:20 EDT

Overall, the weather has been challenging for the past 36 hours – some lighter winds, which forced us into mellow sailing, alternating with some pretty complicated and challenging conditions. We had to do some involved maneuvering about the race course Monday, trying to hang onto the goal of a podium finish. We worked ourselves over to where Icarus and 40 Degrees were, and then worked our way out in front of them. The winds have been into the mid-to-high teens, with a good sea state, making for some serious sailing. And did I mention it was cold out here too? Well, it was … nice and cold.

Dave’s Atlantic Cup – Day 2 Recap …

So, while we think we are about 5 miles ahead of the other boats at this point, anything can happen in the approach to NYC. (For you Expedition fans, check out the “Geography/History Explorer Guide” for questions about New York City.)

The winds are scheduled to lighten up and push toward the South, which could well favor the other boats. For our part, we’ll keep sailing as fast as possible … to NYC! But you never know … the tide influence as we approach the harbor may throw us an unexpected turn. Low tide is around 6pm EDT this evening, and it is often very tough to get up river on an outgoing tide and in light winds.

Yesterday, Off Cape Hatteras …

We had a few equipment complications onboard Monday, but I think we’ll be ok with the way things are … at least through to the first leg finish.

Co-Skipper Matt Scharl‘s fully recovered from his bout of food poisoning … which we’re both grateful for. Here’s an audio interview the Atlantic Cup folks did just now w/ Matt.

Atlantic Cup – Matt’s Day 2 Audio Recap …

So, let us see what develops then. And thanks, as always … for following along.

– Matt, Dave & Bodacious Dream