18:33.6N 62:03.9W

103.5 nautical miles to noon (UTC - new name for GMT); close-hauled on starboard tack heading 355. Force 4 to 5 with moderate seas, making 7 knots with one reef in the main and the genoa. Great sailing under blue skies.

After leaving English Harbour yesterday afternoon we sailed west to clear Antigua and Barbuda and then turned north. We'll head in the general direction of Bermuda with the easterly trade winds and then hope to pick up the top edge of a (clockwise rotating) high.

Today is the Skipper's birthday and the crew has been dribbling out occasional small gifts in an attempt to keep him in a good mood all day - or at least until dinner when he's been promised mashed potatoes to go with his beef bourguignon. We have also been even more lavish than usual in our praise of his skills, wardrobe and leadership style. Notable among the gifts was an item of headgear from Allan - we'll burn some bandwidth to get you a photo.

Allan has curried further favour by rigging the Hydrovane self-steering gear. This is an elegant piece of engineering that keeps us in the same relationship to the wind direction (eliminating the need for the power-using autopilot. Because Allan only joined us recently we'll also include a picture so that you can identify him in further blogs (life is simpler if we don't have to add captions).

Early this morning we saw huge columns of water about two miles astern. It could only be whales and sure enough a vast form rose up and we saw a full breach ending in a tremendous fountain of spray. Too far and too fast to photograph, but a memorable sight.

It's still very hot but the mosquitoes don't seem to like life at sea and we're very happy to report that they've headed home to Antigua.