Another good run yesterday of 162.7nm noon to noon. I was slightly dissapointed because in the 12 hours to midnight we had covered 91nm so I thought we were in for a really big day but then the wind died and we were down to 4-5 kts for some hours. Anyway I am not complaining - How could you out here. 

The more perceptive of you may have noticed that the blog for day 4 was a little late in being posted. I could hear my sisters and son saying “that did not last long, he has given up already”. However the truth is that the blog was prepared and I pressed the send button but it would not go. Such is the vagaries of satellite technology on a small boat that there could be a wide variety of reasons but the one I did not expect was that I had run out of minutes on my Iridium account which is a little more difficult to do something about out here. However on Saphir we have more than one way to communicate with “earth” from mid ocean of course so after a couple of texts when the Mailasail office opened on Monday morning the efficient staff there had me up and running again without delay. So we have another 600 minutes on the account and if we go through that before the end of the year it will have to become a “pay per view” blog….

We have been going well today since sunrise manly with the Code 0 but the winds have been up and down a bit so no records today. The weather is very pleasant with excellent visibility and clear blue sky most of the time and a marked improvement since we left the Galapagos. There has been a noticeable rise in the temperature since we have been away from the islands over the past few days but it is still quite cool at night to the point that you need a light jacket. That is a bit of a surprise really because you imagine being so close to the equator you would get temperatures that are much higher. 

Generally I was expecting much higher winds on this leg than we have had so far but the fact that we are still up on our target average boat speed shows that boat has a hull speed that is quite easy to reach in a variety of wind conditions which is really what you need when passage making. Just as long as we don’t get tested with any more headwinds as on the last leg from Panama to the Galapagos - At one point on that leg we were going to windward in a full 25kts of breeze with two reefs and the jib with big seas with me trying to convince Doreen that it would not be for long and we had to take some pain to get to the better weather….. Anyway that is a story for another time…

Nothing else to report right now - the boat is fine, crew are good, fridges are working and we still have plenty of good food. Off to do some cooking while the crew takes a nap. 

Sundowners at 6.00 today as the weather is so good - might play a bit of Irish music as well :))

Cheers

Saphir