Current position "28:07.68N 15:25.62W". For the rest of yesterday the beautiful day drifted into rain. Our rigger man came round – and concluded our rig was just fine. Chris and James came back from their mammoth shop – it was then delivered later this morning. See pic. We’ve then re-stowed all the food, and have a Powerpoint plan which shows us where everything is. We did have to label biscuits as both biscuits and cookies so Byron knows what they are...!

 

James went to a seminar on rigging, and one on handling emergencies; conclusion on emergencies is to talk them through before they happen so one is as prepared as possible – which we’re trying to do! Chris and Byron are just off to seminars on provisioning (which we’ve just done, but there may be some more tips to pick up, and what we’re calling downhill skiing – but the programme has as downwind (trade wind) sailing. We’ll see what pearls of wisdom they return with!

 

We had our first look at the extended forecast which shows 15-20 knot NE winds for Sunday/ Monday (i.e. a good medium/ strong wind behind for the first 24-48 hours). This is great news. Last year’s ARC started with hardly any winds and the fleet drifted at 2-3 knots for several days. With these winds we’ll be doing more like 7-8 knots; just what we’re looking for!

 

Today is a lovely day – see pic of our pontoon.