Day 5 Noon  Friday 27^th November

Margery attacked during the night.

It was very dark and the moon had set when Barrie and Margery were on watch. It was gusting 25 knots and the boat was flying at 9 knots. Suddenly Margery felt a blow between her shoulder blades. At first she thought it was Barrie mis-timing his night time exercises. But no - it was much more sinister than that. The protagonist was found the next morning when it got light. What is it about the Thornleys? Barrie suffered an identical attack near the Selvagem Islands.

Apart from that things are going well. We did a better mileage yesterday than over half the fleet and today we beat our previous daily best record which now stands at 165 miles in 24 hours. In 5 days we’ve completed 770 miles and are now a quarter of the way across. Skipper celebrated with a shower much to the delight and relief of the crew !

Finally happy 30^th birthday Louise and have a great wedding Ian and Ria – we’re thinking of all of you.