Day 5 – Noon 23^rd May to Noon 24^th May

I’ve decided that ocean sailing is like playing chess.

In chess you move your pieces to where you think you are going to need them later on in the game and try and outsmart your opponent. Your opponent has a mind of his own and has his own game plan which wrecks yours so that you have to react and think up new tactics.

In sailing you work hard at positioning your boat where you think you are going to find favourable wind in the future. The weather also has a mind of its own and really doesn’t give a damn about forecasts or your tactics. So having spent 24 hours moving your boat to X the weather has a good laugh and you find you would have been a lot better placed at point Y,

Anyway – I think I have detected a conveyor belt of Westerly winds about 150 miles North of us so we have spent the day motoring with no wind to try and get there by midday tomorrow. So if anybody is reading this drivel keep your fingers crossed for us and that I’ve got the game plan right for once. Otherwise it’s back to the Sicilian defence.

Meanwhile what else is happening? Graham cooked us all a big fry up breakfast to cheer us up after a grisly day yesterday when we only manage 60 miles towards Horta. With a calm day we’ve caught up on all the domestic chores like cleaning heads, checking fruit and vegetables for rotten ones, and even done some laundry. We’re also back up to date with sleep.

Nick nearly caught a fish which came off as it got near the boat. Barrie thinks he spotted a whale. And we all saw another huge pod of dolphins – this time feeding and tail slapping as well as jumping for joy. And the sun came out and skipper had a shower!

Paul - Peejay