Jon, Nick and I are in a reflective mood as we move towards the end of the last night watch. Betelguese is shining brightly over our heads at the top of the Orion constellation. There is a faint glow of lights on the East horizon from Lanzarote, reminding us we are approaching civilization. The wind is warm, and we are in our shorts at 0500 as we surf down lines of steep waves with the genoa, staysail and mainsail set. The less experienced crew have certainly found their sea legs and learned the ropes. The watch changeover is a ballet of figures smoothly swapping places in the dim red glow of the night lights down below. We now feel comfortable using the staysail halyard as a pole uphaul, whilst we swap the spinnaker lazy guy for the sheet, drinking tea with one hand whilst trimming the outhaul with the other. We confidently discuss COG’s, VMG’s and BTWs in between the merits of radar over AIS. We have not found any strops (or sulks for that matter).

The night watches can sometimes throw up some miraculous sights. The turbulence from the rudder causes the phosphorescence to explode in little firework bursts some distance behind the stern. Silver fish gliding low over the water on their fins. Tonight, Charlie put her hand down by her side in the cockpit and yelped in surprise when it landed on a squid. Who knows how it got there – blown by the wind? Dropped by a bird??

The wind picked up on Monday and there were many hours of running with just a spinnaker as the sea gradually became lumpier and steering straight more of a challenge. The days are busy with maintenance, daily crew chores, gybes and sail changes. Perhaps best of all is that the most boring part of Monday was hearing the leadership result.

It has been a privilege to see the sights we have seen and whilst we have very much missed contact with our loved ones, it is not often one gets 10 days completely free of mobile phones. It is saying something that the 60 miles still to go to the busy port of Las Palmas (a full cross channel distance) now feels a little too short…

Beautifully written by Jonnie ….. (no George of course!)