47:17.3N 14:02.0W

Day’s run - 136 miles

Last night was grey and drizzly with the wind nearly directly behind us, and we rolled uncomfortably with the genoa alone. This morning we tried the gennaker and genoa together, and have now settled on main and gennaker, sailing a little off the direct line, but without as much rolling. What’s more, we have blue skies and bright warm sunshine again.

The highlight this morning was a small school of whales alongside. There were perhaps four of them, about 150 metres away, and as they slowly surfaced we could see a large area of the back and a small dorsal fin, but no tail. Our sea life book shows pictures of the Fin Whale Balaenoptera physalus doing exactly this. They were not close enough to see the whole of the body, but the book suggests it’s big compared to the amount that surfaces - certainly as big as Neroli.

We had recently turned on the generator, so perhaps they came to check us out. Fortunately they didn’t seem too interested in us, they just swam alongside for five minutes, then went away. Sorry, no photographs, it was far too much fun just watching them! In any case there wouldn’t be much to see.

Fish? We’ll let you know.