Day 3, Norway to Svalbard

0600Z 04JUL24, Day 3, Norway to Svalbard. The bashing to windward in the gray continued. Down to about 55nm to go! We did see a sliver of blue sky yesterday evening.

Current Position: 76 02N / 014 33E
24 hour progress: 126nm, 5.3kts avg SOG, approximately 55nm to Vestvika, Svalbard.

Day 3 was pretty uneventful. We have all settled into the passage. None of us are really fans of short passages - just as you hit your stride you arrive. Daxton was ready to be there halfway through day 3 and complaining accordingly.

We continued to sail as close to the wind as we could. The winds and seas calmed throughout the morning and we slowly shook out reefs. First the genoa, then 1 reef in the main. By the evening we had full sails and were sailing close hauled.

The weather forecasts showed we would have to cross another shift in winds. We waited for the winds to move to the north and then we tacked to the east just before midnight. We sailed close hauled in light winds sometimes even pointing directly towards Vestvika. The winds piped up to 15kts and we added a reef to the main. The winds bounced around between 10-15kts as we waited for them to shift back to the east.

As day 3 came to a close we had the engine on and were fighting a little current as we motor sailed, waiting for the winds to finish moving to the east.

We have seen pods of dolphins and a good number of birds. Excitement is high as we anticipate landfall.

Elephant is also doing well. They seem to be slightly ahead of us. Perhaps we will end up in an anchorage together later.