37:42.3N 50:46.0W

Day 12

At last we in a reasonably steady wind. It has been blowing from the South East at force 4 for over 24 hours and is forecast to carry on. We have travelled 156 miles not quite close hauled and will carry on like this for as long as we can.

We have had two visitations from dolphins. Both times there were seemingly hundreds of them. Some of them were briefly attracted by our bow wave and swam along with us, but in minutes they were off on a mission elsewhere – no doubt after food.

We have had a little drama however. Some time during the night, the baby stay parted company and at first light was seen swinging loose over the foredeck. Fernande offered to be hauled up the mast to rig 2x10mm spectra ropes led aft to a winch as a temporary stay. THIS WAS QUITE SAFE, but pretty uncomfortable for Fernande, who was swinging around in the swell, clutching onto the mast. Lots of groaning going on aloft! The bruises are developing nicely. The whole operation took about an hour, as all activity had to halt every time the boat pitched more than usual.

All is set up now, but we will not be using full main from now on in order to ease pressure on the mast supports.

On the bird front, two small little petrels have appeared and have been fluttering around our stern, I think attracted by our bait, which hope triumphing over experience, we are still trailing behind us.