June 27, 2001, 1320 hrs

Cosmos

N 23^o 50', W 082^o 51'

We had a slow run from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West. The trip did provide an opportunity for the chef to excel with some mighty fine chicken from the grill. We also hooked something very large on the fishing rod and fought it for 30 minutes before the line went limp. The fisherman thinks it was a fish, the observer thinks it was a chair, and the fisherman's helper thinks it was a fish sitting in a chair.

We hoped to pass right by Key West without stop, but our mast head wind transponder was not giving wind speed indications so we went ashore. We immediately ran into a Fed Ex driver in a small grocery store, who was kind enough to wait while we wrote instructions, stuffed his box with the transponder and some paper towels bought in the store and labeled the package. We hope that Don Kilpatrick (crewmember number 4) will bring the transponder to Panama when he comes to join us. We also picked up some more fresh food and a couple of other final U.S. purchases, refueled and left within six hours.

We sailed out of Key West on very favorable winds. The night was almost unbelievable with lightening storms such as we have never seen. The sea and sky around us look like a breeding cauldron for tornadoes and hurricanes. We could not hear thunder, because the storms were too distant, but the lightening strikes were occurring about every three seconds in two or three massive thunderstorms at a time.

Right now, we are headed straight for Cuba because the wind will not let us maintain our desired course. We will gibe when we get closer to the Cuban coast.