Position                  28:01.52 N 021:57.95 W

Date                       2359 (UTC) Sunday 12 March 2017

Distance run            in 24hrs 126nm over the ground, 125nm through the water

Passage total          2,976nm over the ground, 2,897nm through the water

Distance to go        635nm    This is our direct weather routing.  The actual

                             distance may be longer as we are forced west of our         destination

Planned distance    Ascension to the Azores west around the high 3,666nm

 

The first day of our fourth week since leaving Ascension started with winds of 10 knits and bobbly seas and ended  with steady winds of 32-34 knots and us heading into large seas; 4.5 metres high and steep.  Lots of water, banging and considerable boat movement.  By 0800 the wind was in the twenties and from 1800 it has been blowing 30 knots plus and at midnight showed every sign of continuing for some time.  The GRIB file show a mere 31 knots and that this continues until about 0900 on Tuesday. We will continue to make slow progress under a small amount of genoa, staysail, a bit of main and half a mizzen.  Heavy weather catering produced, from the skipper, toasted ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch and from the Mate for dinner ravioli from the freezer, topped with freshly grated parmesan, of course.