1430GMT

04 18N 038 12W course 290T speed 6.8  knots

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the NE trades have not exactly lived up to the picture we painted for our crew when we were still south of the equator. Fluffy clouds in a clear blue sky, a steady 15 knots of wind, fish for the taking etc etc – not grey skies filled with erratic squalls offering anything from 8 to 28 knots of wind, 2.5 to 3 metre floppy seas, regular torrential rain and the weed, no one anticipated the weed. Not happy backy but unhappy sargasso, fouling the prop, tangling around the water blade of the Monitor making ‘George’ do things he normally doesn’t and fouling the lures so frequently as to effectively put fishing out of the question. Andy decided that despite the splashy nature of the sea, he would still open the front hatch for ventilation and rely on the protection of the dinghy – wrong, he now sleeps in a swamp. Alison fared little better as a rogue wave just entered through the saloon hatch and rendered her bed in the same condition – fortunately they are, or are becoming, stalwart uncomplaining ocean cruisers. On a positive front we covered 158 miles over the last 24 hours so, all almost well on board.