Position 20:09.925N 44:53.315W

Thursday 26^th November 2009

We had a lightening storm last night with some heavy rain, strong gusts of wind and then no wind for a few hours.

Luckily it came through after my watch finished at 1.00am and I slept like a baby whilst the guys were all on deck taking down the sails and switching to motor, they are such treasures.

I treated them to a full cooked breakfast for good behaviour !

The unsettled weather persisted until around 11.00am and now we have sun and clear skies again with steady 15 knots of wind, twistle up and skipping along again at 7 to 8 knots.

This morning we found a large metal washer on deck – always a worry – where has it come from ?

We soon discovered it has fallen out of the gooseneck (where the boom fixes to the mast), and the main pin/bolt holding this connection is working it’s way out despite having it modified in Southampton before we left.

Half of the split pin has sheered off and the other half is jammed between the pin and the pin hole.

We have lashed around the boom to stop the pin coming out and we are checking it regularly and if it works out at all we are hammering it back through the gooseneck connection.

A job for Antigua !