1^st Wind back in early hours with more rain to complete an uncomfortable night. Big confused seas make progress unpleasant. East end of Cuba out to port, I’ve now left the Carib and am in the Atlantic. Kate has more surgery today to remove the mechanical elbow. By lunchtime the weather had cheered up some and progress easier. Buzzed twice by US Coastguard plane, this being a favoured smuggling route for drugs from Columbia to the US.

2^nd The weather is slowly improving as we get away from the thundery lows that have taken over the Carib. Buzzed by US Coastguard helicopter this morning. Past Plana Cay and we are now on the ocean proper, nothing else till Bermuda. Heading north making as much east as the wind and sea will allow. Crossed the Tropic of Cancer and left the tropics, long trousers tonight!

3^rd Steady conditions overnight followed by a perfect sunrise to start the day. A lovely day all round except for the wind direction!

4^th Motored until breakfast and then managed to set sail heading east at 3kts. Quiet sailing so used the morning to do a cook up. After making 4 helpings of curried tuna for the freezer I’ve still got 2 helpings left and that is after ten days of tuna with everything! I think this is one of those feed the 5000 fish old JC had.

5^th Wind died and engine on at 0100hrs, worryingly there is no wind in the forecast and still 500mls to Bermuda!  All going rather well, time for a nap… after about 20mins I wake. Something is not right. Up on deck the gennaker has decided to go for a swim! The top swivel has come adrift and dumped the sail in the water. Bugger. Quickly retrieved and stuffed into a bag on the aft deck to drain. Unfortunately the weight of the swivel is insufficient to return the halyard to the deck, a trip to the top of the mast is required. Bugger again. Just because Ellen went up twice in the south Atlantic doesn’t mean I am, it can wait until Bermuda. Not so much sargassum weed today so trying a little fishing.

6^th Breeze in again at first light, maui maui for lunch, a fair sized fish, I just sliced off enough for a few meals, it will make a welcome change from tuna. Lovely weather again today, blue sky, blue sea and a reasonable steady breeze giving us almost 5 kts.

7^th Managed to hold the breeze and sail through the night. Daylight brought signs of the forecast change and by 1400hrs the wind had moved ahead and strengthened and the rain had started. By 1700hrs I’m forced to ease off and slow down, as the sea is just too uncomfortable. Hunkered down for the night and went to bed.

8^th 0400hrs and the rain has stopped and it’s looking a little better, time to push on some more.

9^th Hanging-in there, hoping for forecasted shift in the wind, which will save several hours on the other tack. Increase in wind speed and rain both arrive on time, the shift in the wind takes a little longer but in the end we just weather Plantagenet Bank and reach off for St Georges.

10^th Bermuda  Passed into the Town Cut. Tie up at the customs dock for all the usual form filing and on this occasion lying about why I don’t have clearance from Panama (Best not mention the stop in Columbia then!)  A German boat “Frea” was on the customs dock unloading a crewmember who is diabetic and took a turn for the worse 3 days back, boy are they glad to get rid of him! A few hours sleep and it’s off to arrange the gooseneck repair. Managed to lose my phone and the boat hook - don’t ask! More sleeping.

11^th Removed the boom from mast in readiness for repair tomorrow. Hunker down for the rest of the day as it blows and pours.  Glad I’m in here, its going to be awkward outside and I see from the Navtex that one 40ft yacht has been abandoned 20 miles south of Bermuda. The anchorage is getting very full as no one is leaving and every day three or four more boats turn up.

12^th The new day is bright and sunny, move onto the  berth to get the gooseneck repaired and go aloft to recover the gennaker halyard. Oil change on the engine and that’s the jobs just about done.

13^th Fuel, the most expensive ever, and back to anchor. Another cool bright dry day and the boat is at last drying out for the first time in weeks.

14^th Check out.  I don’t have the patience to wait for the wind to veer, so decide to go. I’ll make a bit east of north and it will slowly go in my favour. Once outside and clear, it is very pleasant sailing.

15^th Pleasant conditions continue, although it’s cold enough for socks. Wind veered well at lunchtime and we are now pointing in the right direction and, of course, into a lumpy sea.

16^th Wind has veered a little more and has managed to ease off some, speed up at last.

17^th Lighter winds by morning, set gennaker for a few hours. Whale spotted in the distance breeching. Distance sailed from Colon 2449 mls, distance to Lizard 2443 mls. So, not counting the channel, I’m sort of half way.

18^th Another fine day, the wind has finally moved abaft the beam for the first time since leaving Panama. Fed up with tuna curry, there are still 3 lurking in the bottom of the freezer thanks to mega tuna. So I decided to create a nut roast. First read the recipe, which I can’t find. Second make one up…… half of a very large onion finely chopped (maybe too much ) plus a couple of cloves of garlic because Kate says everything savoury starts with onion and garlic. Next the remains of the packet of stuffing, followed by an assortment of nuts (maybe not enough). Add a splosh or two of water  cause it looks dry (try veg stock next time) and 3 eggs because I remember Kate puts eggs in her nut roast ( I think it’s the glue). Finally, a couple of sploshes of olive oil because it doesn’t look sticky enough. (Not bad Mike, but you forgot the teaspoon of vegemite!) Bake in the oven for a while then serve with a generous helping of baked beans.10/10 for consistency and texture, 8/10 for flavour, meant to put some Worcester sauce in it. (Vegemite!). Alter course to keep my distance from a low, passing to the north. Also want to try and stay in the southerly air stream and miss the northerly following the cold front. Dolphins (Atlantic Spotted) came to play for a while at sunset.

19^th A more confused sea today, but hanging-on to the good weather. Bermuda Radio reports another yacht abandoned, this one 300mls NNE of Bermuda - please keep a lookout and report. – why don’t they open the sea inlets and sink them, they obviously don’t want them anymore? More dolphins this morning, and a nice sized skipjack tuna caught.

 20^th A little blowy today, but it seems that heading east has enabled us to miss the worst. Cold front and winds easing within the next 24hrs. Woolly hat weather during last night. Spotted dorsal fin of a female Killer whale quite close and several blows some distance off.

21^st  We pass 3000mls sailed since Panama and below 2000mls to go to the Lizard. More wind than forecast combined with 100 deg shift in wind created a very awkward sea. One of which caught us good and proper, much water on deck and loose olive oil and sunflower oil amongst a few other bits below – very messy.

Once the front had passed, the rain stopped and it soon became a fine sunny day. However, the very confused sea persisted, so speed had to be kept down. Much colder!

22^nd Definitely porridge weather now. Sea has eased a lot overnight and now making reasonable speed.

Wind freshens against forecast and forces run off, the swell is positively Himalayan. Spotted a small turtle right alongside, odd that they live out here in the middle of the ocean hoping to find a jellyfish to eat and, once a year, maybe a lady turtle.

23^rd Just after midnight the strong northerly finally eases away enough to get back on track with it looking like light winds for 24hrs. Wind has died and it’s engine on, hopefully not for too long, as motoring in this large swell is not comfortable. Spotted another turtle, there must be more of them than you think – and some jellyfish so the little fellow won’t go hungry.

24^th First light and the sea is glassy, Sperm whale very close but shy and difficult to get more than a glimpse, also dolphins (Bottlenose) and more jellyfish. Wind arrived gently  to produce difficult sailing in a big swell until lunch when the engine went on, before wind finally starts to fill in. No luck fishing today, too many dolphins?

25^th Midnight and it’s time to start reefing. Pass half way point Bermuda to Lizard. Morning sees us enjoying a bit of a sleigh ride. Rain starts and the front passes over, not as vigorous as the last one. Rain over by nightfall with wind quickly moderating. Passed  Corvo, the most NW’ly of the Azores 120mls to starboard.

26^th Uncomfortable night with awkward motion and light winds. Almost too cold to get out of the sleeping bag for a pee! By morning unable to sail down onto course. After a few hours of hand steering with the gennaker set, I give up and put the engine on. By teatime the wind is back and we sail gently into the night.

27^th Overnight, in stages, we go from full sail to 3 reefs and storm staysail, seems to be feast or famine with the wind. Set the drogue as it looks a prolonged affair. Late morning and a bit of luck, the sky quite unexpectedly clears, wind drops and sun comes out, set sail again. Odd, this is not quite right by the forecast. The only bad thing about this is getting the drogue back in, it’s hard work

28^th  Midnight and 30kts heavy rain and then a moderation until it’s engine on and more heavy rain! Again, this is not quite right! So in 48hrs we have gone from no wind to riding at sea anchor to no wind.  That’s a lot of energy expended and not much kip. Today marked the passing of 4000mls since Panama and less than 1000mls to go to the Lizard. A good afternoon’s sailing, actually in the right direction for a change and then I check the weather forecast! Shows yet another depression and this one looks a bit strong! Decide to head east and see how it develops. This is a bit of a disappointment, as I was looking forward to a couple of days good fast sailing to make a dent in the last 1000mls. To look at my track across the ocean this time you’d think  Odysseus was the navigator! Temporary repair made to drogue, just in case.

29^th Gybed at 0200hrs to keep going east. Good wind and speed. Will start leaving the fridge door open at night to keep the boat warmer! Update on weather this morning, confirms east is the way to go.

30^th All reefs out in stages overnight, the day starts grey again but not raining! Back on course after breakfast. Right on lunch, the wind starts to fill in again and by 4 we’re fully reefed and forced to come off course a bit and begin another zig in our zigzag across the pond. (Really glad I spent the best part of the last 2days zagging!)