Our position at 12 00 on 20 June is 37:03.6N 052:09.9W . We have about  1120 nm to run to Horta in the Azores and we have completed a massive 144 nm in the last day. Six full days completed.

 

June 19 – Down wind sailing with a following sea is what we have. Speed of up to 7.5 kts but generally in the 6s. We are making good progress but things can easily get out of hand as you swing around from side to side under the effect of wind and wave. Things were getting quite frisky and we discussing what to do for then and for the evening. Then something happened which had not happened before. The line to the Squid impellor got caught around Monica’s counterweight. Nasty, but seriously this could have damaged Monica. I was able to free it without much to difficulty and thought it was one off. Anyway 20 minutes later the Squid and Monica got together and did it again. We reduced mainsail and this seems to restore normality without slowing us by much. The next question is to decide whether the mizen comes down this evening. I think we’ll wait until 21 00 and then decide at the moment everything seems quite calm though we are still doing 6ish kts.

 

The mizen stayed up.

 

June 20 – Overnight the wind was steady and we powered along all night without any dramas. The problem we had experienced with the Squid and Monica could repeat itself and is a function of our point of sailing, our speed and the effect the waves are having on RT. A following wind quickly builds up a following sea. Most of the time these waves are not too big but occasionally (the seventh wave effect maybe) a monster rears up behind. Normally they pass benignly under the boat but can swing the boat around and that when there is potential for conflict between Monica and the Squid.

 

The sky is grey this morning and we have had some drizzle but the wind is steady at about 16 – 22 Kts on our tail just blowing us along.

 

Norm is complaining about the weather. ‘It’s a miserable grey day.’

 

The 144 odd miles we have covered in the last 24 hours is about as good as it gets for a boat of RT’s size and design. The thing about ocean sailing is not to push too hard. A gear failure a 1000 miles from land can be a bit more than an inconvenience.