14/12/19 12:00 UTC

We left Lanzarote on Thursday 12th December at 15:30.

The wind was blowing and straight away hoisted the delivery mainsail and staysail and had a cracking sail for 20 hours. Wind was between 25 and 32 knots and the boat WAS FLYING ALONG AND EVERYONE WAS LOVING IT. Top speed was 15.5 knots, which on this girl is good speed, and we averaged 12 knots for hours on end.

As we went through the lee of Gran Canaria, the wind shadow took hold and we dropped the sails and we have been motoring since.

We probably have another couple of days motoring before we get a northerly wind which we will use to sail down to the trade winds.

We are currently motoring at 250 degrees to get decent southing for the wind ahead, and I want us to get to a latitude of 20 degress before we point directly to the Caribbean, so a gentle arc south where we should find nice trades for 10 days.

All good on board, we are doing a vegetarian crossing, which will be added to by any fish we catch, and then a Christmas dinner to finish. Nice and healthy. The sun is starting to warm up and we are enjoying the less rolly conditions.

Last night we passed the Atlantic rowing teams, we went within 100m of the Team Buoyancy and shouted over encouragement to them. We will see them in Antigua. After we passed them they decided to put on their nav lights!

That’s all for now.

Mat and crew of J-H2