Hooray!! Nelly Rose crossed the Tropic of Cancer at 0900 this morning and is officially in the Tropics. This morning its a sunny warm day and shorts weather. The skipper has agreed this qualifies for a beer this evening! All this is a contrast to the start and the first 36 hours. Rain squalls, wind gusting 30 knots plus and big following seas. Full foul weather gear had to be worn with l/jackets and tied on all the time. We did consider asking for a refund from the ARC since we did not feel we had signed up to North Sea weather here. Life below has been uncomfortable with not a lot of sleep due to the rolling motion. But now we are enjoying ourselves. Its amazing what sun and a fair wind will do to lift the spirits. We have taken some good photos after the start which we can send when we get into St Lucia. We will be adding to this library of photos. The skipper’s bolognaise has been a great success and is going to last 3 dinners!! Nelly Rose has looked after us well in the heavy weather. Top speed was 12.6 knots and she has sailed many times at 11 knots plus. Exciting!! Today is so different averaging 6-7 knots with sun in our faces. We are expecting the wind to allow us to turn a little more to the West and if so we stay on port gybe. If not then later today we may put her on the starboard gybe to make more Westing.