22.26N 01954W  What a difference a day makes!  Having made little to no progress for the past 24 hours, the Trade Winds have begun to kick in and we woke up to a beautiful day with wind from behind – SO up went the Twistle Rig, our secret weapon, and although the wind was only around 10 knots we are managing 7.5 over the ground.  Our electric auto pilot packed up this morning so it was just in time for the Happy Wanderer (Hydrovane) to take over.

We had a diesel leak through one of our inspection hatches today which wasn’t very pleasant to fix in the swell but apart from that it has been plain sailing (!)  Music on full blast most of the day and Michael caught his fish………. It wasn’t a big fish but the bedlam it caused with three lines out the back and the tow generator……. Lots of shouting from lots of chiefs who all knew best how to land the poor creature…….. Oscar managed to get the line twisted around the wind generator……. Michael managed to create a bird’s nest in the line………and the Hydrovane gobbled up his lure…... Anyhow it was in the pan within twenty minutes fried with a little cumin, a touch of anis, fresh lemon juice, salt, black pepper and a pinch of fresh chillies……… Rick Stein dream on…………..

We encountered a strange phenomena with the phosphorous in the sea last night – beautiful swathes of luminous colour like skirts dancing around in the moonlight.  Paul thought it was the light of the moon which activated the light but if you flushed the loo in the darkness all the phosphorous lit up the bathroom!

The radio roll call wasn’t very successful today – the yachts are so far apart now with each skipper choosing his own routing plan that many have to relay their positions one to another to get to the controller for the day. We are no longer in VHF contact with anyone and rely on the SSB at 10.00am and 1800 hrs for our discourse – in truth there is not a lot to talk about except wind and fish!!  Everyone on board well and happy………