After three days, the 10-man crew of the Swan 45 Plenty,
owned by Alex Roepers of Stonington, Conn., has already seen a lot of
what a Bermuda  Race can offer. There's been fog and wind, fog and
no wind, no wind with sun, and then today, Sunday, the third day of
sailing, a glorious bout of running down the line with current, lots of
breeze, and a top speed of 19.2 knots.

Of course there's been some excitement. Last night around midnight (the
best time for trouble), we ended up with two spinnakers and a staysail
macrame'd together in  knot so tight we had to take the three
sails below to get them untangled. Since we're in the Gulf Steam, where
the water temperatures are 80 degrees, it was a sweaty, maddening
job.  But it got done, and we were belting along again soon.

Our first position report, received and sent Saturday at 9:10 in the
morning, was a good one for us. We were second in our class of Swan 45s
behind Better Than, and ahead of the remainder of our class, Class 6. This morning, we found out we'd dropped a place to another 45, Alliance, but know there will still be plenty of opportunities in this eddy-riddled 635-mile racecourse.

We're about 275 miles fromBermuda, and sailing in an afternoon breeze
that's expected to die and go right. We'll keep plugging away and hope
that Monday's roll call puts us on top.

-Tony Bessinger, aboard Plenty in the North Atlantic