Did you know, I certainly didn`t, that there is a chain of submerged  mountains scattered across the ocean between Lisbon, Portugal and the Canaries .... Madera  is the only one making the grade to be a proper island.... Now none are near enough the water surface to give Gaviota a problem ... they very bewteen 500 metres below to 20 metres below ... but compare that to the surrounding ocean floor at 3000 to 4000 metres down! ... So I reckoned with this big swell running from `storms up north` ... good idea to avoid going near any  .... they could break up the swell and cause really steep seas ... and i dont want to go and prove if I`m right!  SO that was the reason for the timing of the gybe at the end of yesterdays log ... so I go nicely down a patch of ocean 3000 plus metres deep! and the day was just keep her creaming along in 25 knots ish over huge rollers, at 7to8 knots only once or twice when it topped 30 knots did I have to help George! And at least it stopped raining ... then at 5.30 pm a bit of evening sun came though a clear sky on the horizon ... So the wind is bound to decrease ... so off I wen tfor the first of my sleeps at 7.30 .. half hour later decided I needed to roll more gfenny in as I wasnr on deck .. by 10 pm  unrolled it again .. wind down to 20 knots by 11 the wind started to shift to the north about an hour later its still shifting so I had dinner and thought about it .. After dinner gybed but now shifted so far kept the genny poled out on the same side ... bby 1.30 1 reef out .. by 3 both reefs out ..by 6 the pole in ... by 6.39 things had settled down to a beam reach in about 13 knots of wind and struggling to do 6 knots  .. back to sleeps..

Dawn came .. lovely clear blue sky 6 knots of wind (same direction) 16 degrees cabin temp ... would have been really nice if 15 degrees hotter! and going hardly anywhere ... how very frustrating .. so close but so far!