35:52.674n 52:19.440w

Distance to home:  2452 miles

Distance run today:  108 miles  

Course 051

There’s no wind, it’s cloudy and we haven’t caught any fish. 

Anyone want to swap places for 24 hours ?

Domestic

The boat’s tidy.  We are clean and fresh smelling, we have carried out an inventory of our stores and the main domestic topic of conversation this morning was that we have opened a new bag of bread flour…..

Please God, give us some wind !   ( But not too much and only from the South West … )

It’s possible we are going swimming again this afternoon if conditions stay as they are but that is a different proposition up here than it was in the Caribbean.  It’s going to be “refreshing”.

It has been calculated that since leaving Maldon on the 28^th June 2013, Sadie has sailed over 7000 miles pretty impressive and we still have two and a half thousand to add to that before the year is out.

Tim and Wills have finished their books and a having a day or two rest before moving onto the next. Since leaving Antigua they have also completed 50 sudoku’s! Thrilling I know, Jez isn’t a particular fan of the fun numbers puzzle but has started reading Bill Bryson’s ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’. There is two copies of the book on board but Wills isn’t sure whether he is ready to face such a mammoth task…

Sailing

There isn’t any sailing, and hasn’t been any since 02.00 hrs this morning.  We are running under engine at an easy 1500 rpm which in the smooth water we have here give us about 4.5 knots.

Natural History

The dolphins haven’t been back yet but we have plenty of birds out here.  Our latest visitors are in pairs with brown upper bodies, pale undersides, a dark head, pale stripes running down the wings and a white ring at the neck.  They are sea skimmers and settle regularly on the surface, often near the boat.

The description is similar to birds we sighted a week or so ago but these are chunkier birds, about a foot long and 18 inch wingspan.  When settled on the water they look and behave very like ducks.

Any ideas ?

We are used to seeing a couple of birds a day and this is currently more like every hour so we optimistically view this as a sign that there is more life out there so we have set a second rod and lure – nothing yet.

And this despite spotting a large buoy floating ahead of us and making a close pass with the boat and lures.  History told us that we “always” catch a fish when we do this. 

“Always has now been downgraded to “usually”.  

Perhaps the buoy, which was too large for us to want to recover it, had only recently been dropped and there has not been time for a local ecosystem to build up or perhaps there is another yacht just ahead, stealing our fish. 

Today’s responses  

Harvey – Fish, chips and curry sauce sounds good.  We have curry again tonight.  And hope for fish tomorrow, but first have to catch one.

Joe – So did you win ?

Lizzie – never mind, you had a day where the boys had to go.  And now it’s half term.

Em – New roses will have to wait but I’ll do my best.

Jason – I think Frank is looking at the map on the blog but not scrolling down to the text.  Can you put him right.  And tell him that we haven’t been scared enough so far to be running out of underpants.  Weather info good, can you give a time for the positions – Ta.

Barry – thanks for the earthquake update. 

Dave S – We only know that they are Atlantic Spotted’s because you ID’d them last trip.  When we find a whale we will be sure to come to you.  Tight lines for Sunday.

Bye for now

Sadie