The ship's clock has gone back one hour so we are just 2 hours ahead of UK now.

Gryphon 11 has turned the corner and started crossing the Madagascar Plateau, less than 500 and more than 1900 feet deep in parts. The half way point for our voyage lies 108 miles almost due south (184º) from Cap St Marie, the southern most tip of Madagascar, we are desperate to get there but there are still 88 miles to go.

The day's run is recorded at 09:15 every morning and yesterday was a joy as 155 nautical miles was entered in G2's log, average speed of 6.45 knots – the sort of thing we had been hoping for. We had made good speed all night, perfect sailing and to ice the cake, the swell has been slight to moderate which is fantastic and helped us recover from the sleep deprivation caused by the slap and rattle of previous too light winds.

Having had that pleasure, the sweet sailing continued during the morning but by tea time winds were seriously deteriorating until by mid-night we couldn't make the course and so had 8 hours of motoring. We've lost time again and unhappily this morning's log entry recorded a miserable day's run of only 106 miles.

We are now starting our 6^th day and hoping to pass the half way mark at about 04:00 tomorrow morning. Today we've had a great morning of perfect sailing weather, the sea has been so calm and G2 has been ploughing through it at 6.5 – 7 knots, sun is beating down, it has felt wonderful. The only fly in the ointment is an annoying counter current that is running across us at 2 sometimes 2½ knots pushing G2 south and reducing our speed over the ground to around 5 knots. A massive 30º has had to be added to make good the course, it looks as though we're off to Kenya on the electronic chart.

Later:

Now, after lunch and a game of cockpit scrabble, the wind has eased so has the counter current and we've knocked off the 30º compensator. There seems to be a pattern of good morning winds that gradually trickle away as the day moves on. Today is a prime example of this as its now15:30 and the engine has just been switched on. The sea is glossy flat and we are travelling under a huge cushion of thick, low, grey cloud often signalling a squall to come but beyond the cloud is sun and hopefully it won't be long until we're in it again.

Later Still

A big wind shift first to the South West and then gradually backing to the South East heralds the passing of a very minor cold front and with luck we will have more consistent winds. A big plus is we can now speak to Peri Peri radio in South Africa and get up to date forecasts from them and they promise us fair winds at least for the next day. The most remarkable aspect of the conditions has been the sea state which has been the calmest of any of our offshore passages with a low regular swell and little sea. Hope it stays ythat way!