Oct 31, 2012, at sea, 30.31N 116.41W

When I come on deck, for my watch it is stormy looking with a good wind and rolling seas.  It seems to be impossible to keep the main sail from crashing from side to side.  Finally we just take it down and go along with the jib and mizzen. Once again I am hand steering, only it is not so much fun any more.  With all the crashings, neither one of us is getting much sleep. 
The day never really warms up and there is still a strong wind.  There is also discussion of a “tropical disturbance”  and possible squalls.  We turn the power on for a couple of hours to try to get back with the rest of the fleet.  Finally there is a sail way off in the distance which I follow as long as I can.  The moon comes up an hour later every night so there are 2 hours of darkness between sunset and moonrise tonight.  It is really dark.