Position: 44:12:10N 21:08:70W

A bit of a windy day.  We gradually changed gear down from full sail to our current config of main with 2 reefs + jib with 2 reefs.  It is a nasty steep quartering sea and we have been flying along at up to 8 kts which is a lot for this old boat!  Wind is southerly 20-25kts.  Seems to be some helpful current pushing us along also.

It has been exceedingly cold and I am so glad I bought a set of thermals as I am living in them!!  I now also understand the sentiment of coming off watch and crawling into the security and comfort of my sleeping bag.  I am sleeping in the forepeak and it is a bit bouncy but OK, and I am toasty warm right now.

We had an amusing moment when I was up putting in the first reef and David must have hit the standby button on the autopilot by mistake – we managed to do a full 360 degree turn, in a F6, with preventers on main and jib – all a bit full-on but quite funny.

We are being taken a bit further north than I would like, but it has been a case of keeping the waves under Nutmeg rather than trying to cross them.  Looking at the weather files, it looks like we may end up with wind from the East for a while so I personally think we need to make as much Easting as possible.  We’ll review it at midnight.

No wildlife, but saw a ship steaming SE this morning, and we’re obviously now on the track of the transatlantic planes as I saw three heading for Europe this morning.

That’s all for now.