Got hit by our first squall last night, only reached 35kn and we were over prepared (luckily). The wind has now dropped to 15kn so the wind is taken from our sails in the swell. Makes for nice sailing not! Had a great day yesterday though. Still hoping to arrive Friday however wind is going to drop. Our friends ahead of us (Duckwall Pooley) lost their rig last night, they are well and motoring the remaining 179miles to St Lucia, they were racing hard. We met a French couple in Madeira and although we couldn’t speak each others language we managed some kind of friendly communications, we were disturbed to hear that after loosing their rudder they were unable to rig an alternative steering system. After several days drifting and have been rescued and the boat abandoned, a very sad day. We aim to just keep plugging away at the miles and hope to get their in one piece – us and the boat. As well as jointly holding the boat speed record Val is currently the injury champion having lost her footing on the steps yesterday and swinging wildly on a halyard straight into the heads door handle.