Yesterday afternoon we put the cruising chute up and had just settled down to admire our handiwork when the uphaul on the pole came away and we had to lower it again. We also put away the pole but after supper (vegetable curry - Steve - and home baked bread - Annie) the wind was right from behind so we replaced the faulty shackle on the uphaul and up the pole went again. During the night the wind came around to ESE so this morning we put the pole up on the port side, furled the genoa, gybed the mainsail and then raised the cruising chute again - see photo. By the time we had sorted out various adjustments to the lines the wind had gone more to the ENE again and so we have taken a break for lunch and will re-group later to see if we have any energy left to gybe everything again and sail a more northerly course. We are sailing at around 6kts which is enough to ensure sufficient output from the Duogen to charge the batteries. Yesterday we produced 25litres of fresh water. Steve is growing a beard under the pretext that there isn’t enough water to shave but we do have soap that works in seawater……...

We had an email from Annie’s brother Rob who concluded by saying it was hard to imagine being somewhere so remote. I talked about this with Annie and Steve and the funny thing is none of us has a strong sense of “remoteness”. When sailing, your visual horizon is limited to about 7 miles and so a lot of the time you are out of the site of land unless very coastal. Given also that the sea out here is little different in these weather conditions than we might experience anywhere else there is no immediate indication of remoteness. Of course if the weather deteriorates or for some reason we need to get to land quickly then being 600 miles from Cape Verde and 1600 miles from the Caribbean may feel rather different!

Life does focus around the boat and by the time you have adjusted the sails, cleaned up, prepared meals, caught up on sleep there really isn’t much time left for anything else. We all seemed to have slipped into the routine and even Annie is managing to sleep between watches……………..

Yesterday we saw our first Dolphins - Atlantic Spotted (Stella Frontalis). There were lots of them and it was lovely to see them riding the waves in the clear water. Unfortunately they didn’t stay for very long, never mind perform the spectacular aerobatics for which they are renowned.