We have been travelling at what you'd probably describe as a "pedestrian" pace for the last 24 hours. The wind has been at F2/F3 pretty much constantly; rarely reaching 10kts and regularly around 5 or 6kts. As a result our average speed has been around 3.5kts yielding a daily run of just over 86nm - our worst by far of the trip.

We have blamed it on the curse of the midway point. We have been "nearly midway" for some time now and despite making a pact not to over-analyse the distance remaining on a daily basis we are both excited to celebrate the halfway mark. It seems that the closer we came to that point the lighter the winds have blown!

Well last night we did limp over the halfway mark at last and the captain awoke this morning determined and hungry for miles. After a calm night we were both well-rested and we had the headsail furled and the spinnaker flying before breakfast.

Despite our best efforts we are still moving very slowly but importantly we ARE moving and in the correct direction! It has been very comfortable on-board with the light winds and a very long running swell which rolls smoothly under Warrior's hull barely rocking us at all. These conditions have allowed us to move around the boat easily and we have been pottering around tending to bits that needed tidying or fixing; taking it in turns in the galley (I made omelettes for lunch and Jamie is currently preparing some fresh bread to bake later), a lot more reading and of course drinking gallons of tea!

We are trolling our fishing lines again so maybe we will get lucky with fish for dinner. Whatever we have we will be quietly celebrating the halfway point in our trip and hoping the second half is as successful as the first.

Other news.. hmmm; well we had some excitement last night when a big commercial ship passed within 3 miles of us and we could actually see it's lights! That's the first vessel we have seen for days and days now.. over a week I think; infact its only the third vessel we have seen at all and the first we have seen at night!

We picked another couple of flying fish off the deck this morning and spotted a couple of sea birds but no other wildlife to report, as yet, today.

Meep has been enjoying the slow pace and regularly pops up to join us in the cockpit and check Jamie's fishing gear is all present and correct! The rest of the time he snoozes in his little hammock and seems pretty happy.

Our fresh produce is still lasting well, we are eating fresh fruit daily and still have plenty of oranges, apples, grapefruit and a whole melon. We are down to the last few tomatoes and trying to eat them up as they are getting a little soft now (we didn't manage to get as many green ones as we'd have liked before we left so most of what we brought was already ripe), we still have 2 peppers left, half a cucumber and loads of potatoes, onions, garlic, cabbages and squashes. We have finished the last of the carrots and courgettes but we do still have a lot of tinned and jarred vegetables including peas and carrots. We also still have plenty of eggs and we inspect and turn these daily along with all the fresh veg.

Not sure if that's of any interest or not - we are obviously obsessed with our fresh supplies but perhaps it doesn't make especially fascinating reading! I can tell you that for the last few years since we have been liveaboard cruisers we have been on a relentless quest to establish the best methods of sourcing; stowing and preserving fresh produce in anticipation of this trip and therefore a day never goes by that we don't discuss the state of our fruit and vegetables! Rock 'n' roll hey! Other hot topics currently under discussion include;

Tea - how much is too much?

The Captain's beard - get rid or keep it until the Caribbean? And the related topic of when is it time for a haircut?

Well that's probably enough excitement for one blog. Best wishes to you all from the crew of Hamble Warrior; officially "half way across the Atlantic"