Latitude: 11 14.475’N ; Longitude: 32 46.386W Friday 9December 2022, entering day 8 at sea.

Well, at last we are below the latitude of the wind hole in the mid Atlantic, and this morning at 08.30 we gybed and are now heading west, yay! Our rhum line course over the ground takes us straight to Barbados….. just a small matter of 1,500nm in between it and us! However, we did 111nm in the last 24 hours, and the wind has filled to a steady 12-16 knots, sooooo, boat speed has improved massively and although it might be a further 15 days….. we might also shave a day or two off that….??? All remains to be seen?

Yesterday was a chill day, and we had a lovely evening… although Greg thrashed me yet again at crib ;’( We then turned in for our watch system over night….. however, the wind died enough to not only slow the boat to 3 knots, but make her wallow in a lumpy sea, making sleep difficult. Not only that but we developed a clunking in our transom (back of the boat) over the last few days? We’ve been blaming Hari…. Well, why not? But when Greg took his off watch in the aft cabin he thought it had got significantly worse and was not Hari, but the boats main rudder….. 04.00 saw both Greg and I lying with our heads in our transom locker with spanners and grease up to our elbows…. The bolts holding the rudder flange and rudder stock flange had come loose on our steering differential and needed tightening before they fell off completely and we lost steering! A hot and difficult job, in a very awkward space (of course it was…. It’s a boat;)) but, it had to be done before we lost our main steering and, on the plus side, yep, the knocking’ stopped and we have also done our boat yoga for the day! We do however owe Hari an apology!

After that we put in the gybe, did engine checks, charged batteries, and made fresh drinking water…. So all in all a very low sleep day :|, not great for morale, however, having gybed we have literally turned a corner and instead of heading south west we are now heading for our destination at last. That always lifts spirts and ours a smile on our faces :)

Yours aye 

Greg and Sue xx