45:46.4 N 12:10.4 W  Baro 1016.3 dropping, W9-14 KT NE, C10C  

What a performance, I sailed through a fleet of 8 fishing boats, thank God it was still light. Once I cleared I noticed they had strobe lights. This morning, 0445 hrs, came across a tanker that was doing .6 kt, killing time. Tacked behind him and two hours later tacked again. The beauty though was the rain, thunder and lightening. The latter in columns, think of a power station chimney but more substantial being alight. Spectacular, and I was aiming for it.

Menu included, mussels, octapus, dobrada (stew with tripe) and today Sopa da Pedra with an added tin of mushrooms plus wine. The celebratory drink last night was spiced rum.

Monday, wind only 5 kt, going nowhere, north but all over the place. Tried to calibrate the Raymarine auto pilot to assist with the steering as the wind pilot is useless at such low speeds. It worked for a few seconds then it bleeped and went to standby, pressed auto again a few more second and again the same, then extends itself and shows 1000. Put it away again, it is 10 years old though how many hours use does it have? It worked once on the way to the Azores but refused the second time. Tied the Rutland wind charger, too noisy and it no longer charges the batteries, even though I bypassed the Marlec regulator. The wind picked up a bit 10-11 kt and we are  going North. Resurrected my Vuarnet sunglasses from the 80ies, they are still brilliant but old fashioned. The Oakleys that I use on the boat are from 2004, they had it, even the paint started to peel off.