Position 1200 UTC +0100hrs 29th November  20:49.00 N 27:12.00 W   1966 miles to go.  (I might have got the date wrong in yesterdays position)

 

Well some of you may be picturing us here in the blazing tropical sunshine sailing downwind and not having had to trim a sheet for a few days.  Unfortunately that’s not quite how its worked out and for most of the last 3 days its been quite cloudy (although it is warm).  As for the trade wind bit, that’s not really happened either and for the past couple of days the wind has been mainly forward of the beam and if the saying about true gentleman never sailing to windward then there’s definitely no true gentlemen on this boat.  This morning has been a constant series of reefs and shake outs and course alterations as we’ve followed the wind from single figures to 30 knots in the space of a few minutes.  We’re not complaining though. I mentioned in an earlier post that the normal advice is to sail south until the butter melts before turning west.  Well they don’t tell you whether to use salted or unsalted but we did pick up on the need to take it out of the fridge for that plan to work.  So far it hasn’t melted but it has gone off!!!  We need a plan B. Yesterday we nearly caught an unexpected catch with our fishing line.  There was a small bird and a seagull which flew past and the seagull decided that our lure just under the surface behind the boat represented a hearty meal.  It began swooping to catch it as we hurriedly wound it in to avoid any mishaps.  This morning another fish was caught though and it was enormous.  Well it would be as it got away complete with the hook.  We also saw some flying fish which make quite a sight.  We ate heartily yesterday with Phil's signature dish of sausage casserole.  We rounded off the evening with a few quiz questions that people had given us to take with us so a bit thank you to all those who did.  Anthony won first prize in one competition and Ritchie first prize in the quiz.  Today is Saturday and we’re just planning our Sunday with important questions to be decided upon.  Do we have our roast dinner at lunchtime or in the evening and which Sunday paper shall we order for tomorrow.  One very good point is that the bunches of bananas hanging on deck are starting to ripen and taste very nice indeed..