The last days we had good North East or East wind 15-25 kn and more in squalls. Some of them with heavy rain and in the night we used radar to avoid at least thunderstorms (successfully). Sometimes we make 7 or 8 knots against the wind, close haul (hart am Wind) North to North East, but squalls are often followed by calms and winds are variable. Waves 3 m. Two reefs in the main (Großsegel) to be prepared for gusts. Only 8 hours motoring so far, so we have most of our diesel left, which is good. On Wednesday, we expect to enter the calm zone (Roßbreiten) between the easterly trade winds of the South and the westerly winds of the North. At this moment, the crucial part of the voyage begins. Thank you, Ivan, for providing us with valuable forecasts and weather routing advices!