The wind is around 12kts from the SE/SSE. Not a cloud in the sky. Not too hot and humid. Gentle rocking and rolling that is the joy of upwind monohull sailing. Good speed in the right direction. What could be better?!

A low pressure system is developing to the north, the bottom edge of which we should reach on Friday. Then, for a few days into next week, there may be a narrow band of south westerly wind that we can follow towards the north east. Too far north and we will be into heavy weather. Too far south and we will be in the centre of a high pressure system with no wind at all. Just to add interest we cannot be certain how far north or south the low pressure will be until maybe 24 hours beforehand. We download a new weather map each day and Annie sends through more detailed weather routing from LuckGrib. Although the general outlook remains the same, the detailed predictions vary. The prospect of favourable conditions after days of wondering if we will ever have anything but easterly wind is intoxicating.

Being a parent can be a wounding experience (admittedly for the child also). Olly has reminded me of some of my more irritating habits. Racing dinghies with an overly competitive father seems to have left an early and enduring impression. Perhaps most wounding was bringing out music playlists with nothing recorded more than 20 years ago so that I wouldn’t recognise the melodies and whistle along with them. Actually one of (the many) things I love Annie for is that not once has she ever asked me to stop whistling along with my favourite music. For anyone, and especially Annie, that is an unusual degree of tolerance. Whilst I am bemused by much of Oliver’s Indie music we do have musical tastes in common and could together enjoy a loud playing of “Fairies Wear Boots” by Black Sabbath - great sailing music. He’s asleep at the moment so I am enjoying Joanna McGregor playing Bach’s Goldberg variations.

Yesterday on the horizon I watched what looked like a huge dolphin leap out of the water and land with the most enormous splash. It was much bigger than a dolphin. This morning my eye was caught by the sun reflecting off what I took to be a plastic bottle. Before I could launch into a rant about plastic in the oceans a Portuguese Man of War floated past with its little sail making it look like a floating conch shell. I’ve never seen one before.

When sailing oceans your view to the horizon from deck level is never more than about five nautical miles, maybe seven at the most. As a result you usually appear to be alone in a vast wilderness. Imagine our surprise when an AIS target appeared five miles ahead and, unusually, we were catching it up. It turns out to be Poseidon Rex, a 33ft French yacht. We called them up for a chat and are both headed to the Azores. We have now overtaken but promised to call back before leaving vhf range. If that wasn’t enough another yacht is converging on our port side and travelling at a similar speed. We have no further information because it is not broadcasting an AIS signal. Maybe, like us, they have inadvertently activated the silent mode and are receiving but not broadcasting. We are now broadcasting again as confirmed by Poseidon Rex.

Must go, Olly is agitating to let out more sail.