Hi there folks,

By far the toughest night on watch so far. The wind has been blowing consistently strongly, well consistently is perhaps the wrong word. It has been between 15 and 20 Knots with dead patches or 10-12 for 15 mins at a time when you want to shake out the reefs. But then back with a vengence, all of it on the nose blowing us south of the rhumb line, thankfully around 2am it came round and now we are able to make course and mostly around 7.5 or 8 Knots (actually 8.5 now and holding). It is far from comfortable and the night was very black and the weather is still overcast.

Now day is with us and the boat is asleep with me on watch hoping that someone will wake up in the next hour so I can have a lie down instead. Things have calmed down a bit and George is coping well (not the case last night). I may be able to cook something up for lunch without scalding myself. The ever reliable gribs are saying that things will calm down by nightfall, timing may be bit off but I am glad we will see it easing within 24 hours. I have had another couple of falls in the night and Mike as well. The chair I am sitting is tied down now so not going anywhere, however I still have bruises on back arms shoulders and ribs and could do without another. I think tonight is courtesy shower night so less wind would make it easier.

We now have less than 500 miles to go and the 7 day passage is looking like a good bet. The arrival sweepstake I think will be set today with times either side of 15:30 GMT Saturday (exactly 7 days). Getting closer!

One thing I am less than ecstatic about is the re-appearance of the Portuguese man-o-war. These little purple jelly fish are really taking over the planet, or at least the watery part of it. Has this been widely reported in the media? Being so isolated from newspapers television or broadcasts of any kind (save the weather) it seems entirely possible that a plague of jelly fish is in fact appearing everywhere and taking over the planet. This particular swarm are clearly the young offspring, more like a disk than a fully inflated adult and they keep being swept onto the deck, perhaps this is not surprising as we are nearing the coast of Portugal. Is this normal? (any insights welcomed).

signing off for now

Ben and the Crew of The Snark
bentlittle {CHANGE TO AT} btinternet {DOT} com
thesnark {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com
+44 777 070 4382 (Mobile)
+88 1631589195 (Sat Phone)

Follow our voyage blog at:
http://blog.mailasail.com/thesnark