It has been a tiring 24 hours. The wind increased as forecasted; a little in the evening, F6 occasionally 23kts with the sea state still lively. We had our dinner and took it in turns to get some sleep.

At about 3am we had a short but heavy rain shower and the dark clouds that brought it hung around as the winds increased steadily; not unexpected. We put the kettle on and sat drinking hot drinks while the wind blew and the sea increased. We put a third reef in the mainsail which now looks very small but hasn't hampered our progress. We were seeing 30-33kts at the peak with a consistent 24-25kts and making 7kts of speed but surfing down the large waves at 9-10kts. I think the top speed we saw was 10.1kts whilst surfing.

It's pretty exhausting now. Any movement; any small task aboard is a fight to stay upright and every so often we come sideways off a wave and our entire world is tipped onto it's side.

Neither of us had a huge amount of sleep since things got exciting last night so we are both tired and taking it in turns to curl up in a ball on the floor of the cockpit and try and grab a bit more sleep. Meep is taking a similar approach and has made himself very comfortable in his hammock and only comes down for "essential business".

We saw our first cruise ship pass by within a couple of miles; "Aidasol" which was quite exciting but we didn't really have the energy to be too enthusiastic about it.

I think this is the wall. We are 48 hours out now and we are enduring the toughest conditions yet while we are at our most weary. I can't be certain it's actually that bad. I think it's just tiredness amplifying everything. I'm sure at a different time I would be relishing the "lively sailing conditions" as Warrior barrels along and we produce our best daily run by far - we have covered a massive 164nm in the last 24 hours and there is little doubt now that we should make landfall on Saturday afternoon. We are ready now; I have savoured enough of the experience. I want that Rum punch and I want it to be massive and I want it now...

300 miles to go.