1500GMT

02 48N 033 27W

Yesterday was a day of ominous grey cloud, heavy squally showers and shifty light winds. We sailed some and motored some and then sailed again but we did all manage to get a good wash in deck during one of the down pours. We also made bread and muffins, tried fishing, but the surface weed kept clogging the hooks, so we gave up – no fish yet – unbelievable. Towards evening time we were getting the pole down, after a brief period of running down wind, when the pulley at the top of the pole up haul track broke and the line fell in a heap on the deck. The sky to the west was not looking friendly so my trip up the mast to the first spreaders was pretty quick. Fortunately the swell was slight but even so replacing the block with fiddly shackles while being thrown around did concentrate the mind. The result is at least an improvement on what went before, so all good. The night was dark with a waning moon and only occasional glimpse of a star but by dawn the wind had freshened and settled into the NE and we’re now bowling along on course for Grenada at a steady 6.5 knots. We’re in twice daily contact with Roger and Amy on Shango 60 miles ahead as well as checking into the Southern Cross net each morning – so we get a good idea of conditions on the ocean on at least a 600 nm radius around us. Hopefully we’re now firmly embedded in the NE trades and progress should be steady. All well on board.