23:45.6N 19:28.14W

Day two started off with yet more lively downwind surfing – a new boat record was set by the autopilot at 17.7 knots on Mike L & Barbara’s watch. Probably our biggest seas yet – 4-5m waves loom up behind on occasions. Sometimes the big rollers break around the stern and onto the cockpit floor – definitely still boots and olies (foul weather gear) conditions . A couple of big waves swept one of the lifebuoys off the stern so we have moved it to a safer place inside the guard rails. The no1 genoa  had to be furled on the evening of day one after some stitching was torn along the foot. Mike S managed a handstitched  repair while on the foredeck yesterday with the sail partially unfurled . One of the genoa’s battens was also shaking loose so it had to be retrieved from about 10 feet above the foredeck. This provided a great game for Mike L & Tim  - fishing of a different kind! After various false attempts the cunning plan was to make up a lasso on the end of the telescopic boat hook and “catch” the end of the batten. This worked. All this dancing around on the foredeck with the lovely Atlantic rollers brought good entertainment, and a successful result.  The genoa  was flying once again.

The NE wind moderated  over the day and overnight  so we are now running goose winged at about 7 knots on port gybe – heading for the Cape Verde Islands, where we plan to turn west for the long reach over to St Lucia in the trade winds. Very pleasant sailing.

Now that the wind has dropped below 20 knots we are thinking of putting up the Parasailor when daylight comes.

The watermaker (desalinator) is working well producing about 15 litres in three hours yesterday. Of course our faith in this technology is not 100% so we are washing up the dishes in salt water in the cockpit to save our precious drinking water especially at this early stage in the passage.

 Tim made a super meal for us last night – Cajun beefburgers, rice & salad followed by fruit salad – great going in challenging conditions. Sorry we have not been getting the blog updated more often... It can be tough to get a reliable connection on the satellite phone with the external aerial – the aerial is partially masked by the radar scanner on this SW course! (We can of course dismount the phone and use it as a handheld but this is not ideal when hooked up to the netbook).

The fleet has split into two groups – those that headed west from the Canaries on the “Northerly route” taking advantage of the favourable winds after the start, and those heading SW towards Cape Verde to pick up the trade winds - following Columbus’s historic route to the West Indies. It will be interesting to see how this develops – you will be able to follow the fleet on the web site better than we can!