Since the poor winds on our 2^nd night we have had increasingly good winds. 10 to 15 knots with a lightish swell gave us 24 hours of peaceful motion and reasonable speed, it is now blowing at 15 to 20 knots steadily which gives us speeds of 6 – 8 knots constant and has increased our average speed to 5.7 knots at last reading. The big Atlantic swell is well and truly with us so the motion is pronounced and nothing can be put down as it will end up on the floor. The odd wave ventures into the cockpit but it soon dries and saves having to swab it down although I did have one get me shoulder to foot today which was a bit of a cold shock. Our days run has satisfyingly increased through the week: 117 miles, 133 miles, 134 miles and today by our 2.30 pm target time 149 miles. We have just clocked 604 miles, only 1433 to go!

Using our single side band short wave radio, we are now in contact each evening with Atlantic weather guru Herb based in Canada. We call into his free weather net 6.30 p.m. each day with our position and he gives an individualised forecast for our area. He also advises if we need to change course to pick up better winds or to avoid poor or fierce winds. His forecast covers about 4 days but he happily updates us daily and will do until we arrive at our destination. This is obviously a marvelous service and it has the added benefit of being able to hear other boats in the area. Our nearest yacht is 110 miles ahead and slightly south west, we seem to be slowly catching them up as a couple of days ago they were 125 miles away.

Our reception and transmissions with Herb are good. However, there is a smaller local network of boats within about a 500 mile area which transmits during the first part of the day, communication with them is difficult due to the poor propagation of the radio signal, short wave radio works better at night. We can't leave the SSB radio on all the time as it is power hungry and would drain our batteries fairly quickly with all the other equipment they have to support.

The boat's power is generated by two large solar panels mounted on the fore deck, which work very efficiently in these latitudes, together with a towed water generator – a massive spinner at the end of a long rope which attaches to a small turbine hanked onto the stern of the boat. Also very efficient the water generator and the solar panels are cabled into the batteries via various controllers. This all provides us with the power to run domestic and navigation lights, navigation equipment, electric winches, pumps, fridges, radios and CD player as well as the more recent necessity of fans as the heat now is constant. Even at night we need only the lightest clothes and the thought of a nice warm fleece is horrid.

Somehow the days are very busy. Changing the sail plan to maximise speed and comfort can take ages when it involves changing jib poles about. For about 36 hours we had no main sail up but twin jibs poled out – goose wing sailing, now we have the main sail set with poled out jib on same side in front of it. Cooking and every other chore takes much longer when at precarious angles. Looking after wear and tear takes time such as checking ropes for chafe and rigging up anti-chafe paraphernalia here and there. Today our excellent spray hood that usually keeps us dry in the cockpit, decided to shed stitches just where water hits it when the sea is rough. I guess the salt had rotted the stitching but it also gets some stick when passing to the fore deck as it is a large comforting surface to lean against. Anyway it took 3½ hours to repair, tough as new boots it wore out 4 needles and left the fingers very tender.

Flying fish are continuing to provide a free lunch, for some reason it is always 3 of decent edible size that turn up, the rest are not worth the bother and some are as small as anchovies. So far we have had them grilled with herb butter, sautéed with onion and tomatoes and today's were grilled with lemon and olive oil. How many will turn up on deck tomorrow we wonder? So far our fresh fruit and vegetables are keeping well in their hammock and net which seems good in this heat, oranges and limes are stored wrapped in tin foil, green tomatoes are wrapped and kept in a dark locker, potatoes are bagged up and hidden in the dark, green bananas are kindly not all ripening at once and usually provide one each for breakfast. We don't see each other for breakfast as that is a watch change over time and sleep is the priority.

On long voyages like this it is easy to start thinking about what you miss most apart, of course, from family, friends, the dog and home. Tonight it is newspapers and doing the crossword, walking the dog, English autumn weather and what we would love to have on board – BBC Radio 4!