Our new rig has less tension than the previous one. I am not used to the leeward shrouds slackening in response to gusts or waves. And by slackening I mean wobbling a little, not waving around loosely! According to Shawn our rigger this is normal as the mast and rig absorb the extra loads. It is also a sign that reefing may be required. As a result we are altering the sails much more frequently than I am used to. This is also due to the fact that we are sailing upwind, something I have also become not used to! Shawn is in much demand on the racing circuit and on super yachts and is a one man rigger, sailmaker, engineer and crew. He knows his onions and did say that the new rigging would stretch a little and need tightening. I’m just not absolutely sure whether the slackening means put in a reef or tighten the turnbuckles.

At the moment we have three reefs in the mainsail and two in the genoa. I think the wind is around 15kts (the “temporary” wind instrument on the pushpit gives a lower reading than the masthead position). This is more reefing than even we would have previously made with the old rig. And yet we are still sailing at up to six knots!

In between sail changes we are listening to music, playing backgammon (3:1 to me so far), talking, drinking tea and coffee, messaging friends and family, reading, checking the weather, passage planning. We have got both of the old wind transducers working again. We removed the reefing line we thought had been gnawed only to find it is absolutely fine and so put it back on again. What the gnawed line was neither can recall and there isn’t another blue line to the back of the boom! Weed removal from the Duogen is still required but now only three or four times a day. The anchor is still rattling away as we hit waves despite being held down with a ratchet strapping. We are going to remove it and put back the original Bruce that stows in a retaining bracket. We are still slamming as the bow gets lifted by a wave and dropped into the trough behind. It’s like landing on concrete with a bone jarring crash. I’m wondering if it is due to the stern heavy trim of the boat. We have moved spare sails, water maker etc forwards to see if this lessens the pitching.

It looks like an area of high pressure is developing between us and the Azores. Low pressure to the north will draw the wind flow which will then be more from the south. This suits us and means we may have a beam reach across to the islands, motoring as we cross the centre of the new high pressure system. The temperature is dropping. Still shorts and tee-shirts but almost requires a light fleece at night.