�� I�d come on watch early as Si was looking so tired but we spent the first half an hour of the day trying to identify a light not showing on the AIS, then trying to avoid the yacht below it. Steerage was difficult because of the sea conditions and we were as far to starboard as we could go without backing the headsail. I stood by to gybe it thankful that we didn�t have the mainsail up too. Si fell into bed and we didn�t see another boat until 11am when a 950ft cruise liner passed us on the horizon looking like a small city. We are now in the middle of the Bay of Biscay with thousands of metres of sea below us: Quite an unnerving though really. When we went over the continental shelf (clearly visible on Google Earth) the depth sounder went gaga for a while as we are off the scale. It now reads 3.7m !

�� Si was feeling a little queasy when he woke this morning so we just ate some fruit for breakfast. I woke from my morning nap starving and made the lightweight girly option of bacon sandwiches for lunch with cherry tomatoes. Colour came back into Si�s cheeks just as a visitor dropped in for a cup of tea with us. A tiny bird (I�ll get the bird book out later) dropped onto the boat just escaping being minced by the whizzing wind generator. Not content with resting on deck it flew below. I took over the watch and Si went below too for a lie down with the young bird! Revitalised it flew out and off while Si slept on.

�� The winds and seas picked up again after a slightly calmer F6/7 this morning. The waves are enormous again and I had to change course as some were breaking dangerously on the beam risking rolling us. I gave up trying to listen to my Spanish course. On the roller coaster this evening I concocted a pork doodah with mushrooms, wholegrain mustard and cr� fra�e and served it with rice and broccoli. Washing up was painful with the cooker crash bar bashing me round the kidneys. We started watches earlier tonight with bad weather forecast.

�� I got no sleep and staggered up on deck to an exhausted looking Simon. It was pitch dark: I mean completely black. There was no moon, the stars were obscured by thick cloud and I couldn�t even see the mast. It took a while to get accustomed to the darkness with the instruments reflecting on the sprayhood screen. I kept thinking the gales had blown through but then huge waves and whistling winds would re-appear. It was a long watch.����������������������������� ---Lini---

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