Our first day out, however, was like this with light following winds, a lumpy sea and drizzle during the night. The second day we had too much wind with lumpy seas and little sunshine but now I am pleased to report we are beginning to have Trade Wind sailing. The biggest change has been in the sea temperature which has gone up from a chilly 14°C or less to over 24°C. Consequently our duvets are back in store and our warm clothing put away. There is a good moon at night and a clear sky with the odd puffy cloud during the day. The wind could be more consistent but as I write and dawn approaches we are doing a slightly rolly 7.5 knots bang on course.

Our only drama has been ripping our cruising chute. This is our light wind sail which is really essential in winds below 12 knots. We will need it to get us through the doldrums when we get there on the next leg, as we carry only about 300 litres of diesel, enough for about 100 hours motoring. As a consequence Lorraine has been sewing for the last 4 days so we now have a well repaired chute and Lorraine has some sore fingers.

The weather gribs show that we should keep this pleasant wind for the next 2 days but then the wind will get light again. Hopefully it will stay at about 10 knots as this is just enough to let us sail rather slowly but very comfortably at about 4 knots. We shall see!