24:08N  059:38W

We have covered 170 miles in the last 24 hours, making the most of winds that are now starting to die off.  Our plan was to try to get far enough north to avoid the lightest patches and so far, that plan is working.  Today, the wind has veered into the south east and we have followed it round a bit, keeping the relative wind speed up and with the added bonus of pointing more towards the Azores.  We think we will have a couple of days of light winds before a stronger airflow establishes itself from the west.

 

Yesterday evening we broke out the cruising chute to see how we might use it in our light winds strategy.  Julie and I left it in England when we departed in 2017, but I brought it out in my baggage last month.  It doesn’t handle quite like an asymmetric kite, but will give us some options reaching with the wind on the beam.  We have also been experimenting with the HF radio to pick up weather stations – I got a fairly ropey signal from Northwood at 4am this morning, but a beautiful satellite picture from New Orleans yesterday afternoon – so Ed is a happy Met Officer!

 

Today is Tom’s birthday – Happy Birthday Tom! -  so we started the day with bacon rolls and a cake is under construction for later.  The fine weather has allowed us to open up the boat a bit and get some fresh air blowing through the crews quarters.  The boys have even asked for a washing bowl to dhoby their smalls – so life on the ocean wave is starting to develop a rhythm!

No significant defects and morale is good!

 

Richard, Tom and Ed