18.09.3N 42.07.8W

We have slowed a bit and dropped two places, now standing at 7^th in our group of 23, and 40^th in the fleet of 253. Must try harder.

The first of today’s pics show us at our repose, during the all important happy hour. This is only time when the entire crew get together. We share a drink before dinner and swap watch stories. There is some friendly rivalry regarding which watch can clear the most miles and hit highest speed. It looks kind of tranquil in this shot.

The second shot shows this in generally not the case. You can see that a wave has picked the stern of the boat up. Look at the horizon on the right. We are just about to fall down the front of the wave which picked us up. Sometimes this results in graceful surfing in a straight line. This is great fun and where our maximum speeds can arise. Other times the boat will skew, and the result is less comfortable. Every fifth wave or seems to do this to us. Trying do the simplest things in this motion is difficult and tiring. Trying to cook a hot meal for seven is a real challenge, and just getting around deck is a workout.

A tangible and perhaps premature feeling of ‘we are getting there’ is building. By our calculations we might reach the finish line on Sunday evening, provided our boat speed holds. The fastest boat has 500 miles to run, compared to our 1110. We are planning a ‘1000 miles to go’ party for tomorrow lunch time.  More tomorrow ……