Still good progress. According to the Garmin tracker we are averaging 5.7kts. For some reason we do not have a track showing other than the last 100nm or so. The total passage information is showing. I will admit to forgetting to switch the tracker on before we left Horta but did soon after.

Due to our relatively high speed the Duogen has been generating lots of charge for the batteries. So much so that I noticed the battery voltage had risen to over 14V. Fearing we were over charging the batteries I switched on the deck and nav lights and the voltage immediately dropped to 13.25 which is normal when they are fully charged. I then wondered how we could increase the draw on the batteries without having all our lights on. The alternative of course would be to raise the Duogen and in the tropics where there was enough UV for the solar panels to keep the batteries charged during the day this is what we did. Here in the North Atlantic I would prefer an easier alternative to balancing on the transom while manhandling the Duogen. And then Annie had the brilliant idea of switching the freezer on! The irony of this being of course that it isn’t on because we didn’t want the worry of it drawing too much power! So, it is now on but with only bags of water to freeze and we could have had frozen prawns all the while.

Without anything edible in the freezer we have provisioned with enough fruit and vegetables for 12 days supplemented by cheese, chorizo and lots of tins and jars. Without the freezer we are more vegetarian than with. There is an often had conversation ongoing about a more vegetarian diet when home again. I (possibly we) haven’t eaten beef for years (one of the most unsustainable foods) and Annie tries to avoid pork on animal welfare grounds. We eat “free range” chicken if possible and fish from “sustainable” sources but the level of misinformation and deception that food producers get away with is astounding. We both eat lamb, adore cheese and can’t quite wean ourselves off milk - all of which are dodgy on animal welfare and sustainability grounds. I am very happy to eat wild venison and wild boar and would eat genuinely pasture reared beef if I found a source. I’ll try and focus on these as my gesture towards sustainability and animal welfare and avoid other meats where practicable and not socially awkward.

The music is back on but reading and sleeping have taken over from scrabble and backgammon. I have read Jamaica Inn which I enjoyed partly as a good read and partly because we are approaching Cornwall where it is set. Annie is reading some collective pieces by AA Gill at the moment and loving his writing. I must give it a go whilst also having The Covenant to finish - James Mitchener’s long historical novel about the history of South Africa.