I was on watch last night 8 p.m. (GMT) to 10 p.m.  Surprisingly this is the darkest part of the night at the moment. The sun’s gone down and the moon hasn’t yet risen. There wasn’t much wind (we were running engine again), it was warm and it felt like I had the whole Atlantic and all the stars to myself.  This was the first night I’ve been able to see a clear night sky and it really was spectacular.  From horizon to horizon and with no man-made lights at all, apart from the cluster on top of our own mast, nothing but the void and billions of stars.

I went out on deck to check on “watt and sea” (our towed generator) which was not only happily charging our batteries but also agitating the plankton (or whatever) and making them spark and glow so that we left a luminous trail in the water stretching out behind us like something out of the Life of Pi.  Sorry I couldn’t photograph it, my iPhone camera is amazingly good with most challenges, but this was one it couldn’t handle at all. 

By my next watch at 4 a.m. the moon was right overhead and so bright that all but the brightest stars were drowned out and the luminous trail was invisible.  The highlight of my watch was spotting another boat on the horizon - just a pinprick of light really - slowly crossing about eight miles in front of us. 

Sorry there are no photos today.  We’ve had a busy day of maintenance.  Well, actually a day of trying to repair things that have broken and it’s been quite hectic!

The water maker’s on the blink. David and Tristan spend a few hours taking it apart (no mean feat as it’s buried deep in the engine room) and think they’ve improved it, but it’s still not working yet.  David thinks he can fix it but needs to call the manufacturers on Monday, thank goodness for satellite phones. Until then we’re being careful to preserve our fresh water supplies.   

The Genoa furler is also being temperamental.  That’s the motor which winds the foresail around the forestay.  I took it apart, a very greasy experience, balanced on the point of the boat and trying not to drop the screws into the sea, but failed to find or fix the problem (don’t worry - I was tied on).  So we now have to use a hand drill to wind it in or out.  Not ideal. 

At least the wind picked up a bit this afternoon and we had a few hours of good sailing and boosted our average speed a notch or two.  

Night has now fallen again, and the wind has died away again, so we’ve just put the sails away and are back on the motor.  

Thanks for the poem Grace.  I don’t think the boys have read any Laurie Lee yet, but do send it to them, who knows what it might inspire!   

Sorry to hear you’re not well Jaynie - and more so that I can’t help out.  Tell Tommy to bring his Rubik's cube out with him on the 12th!  Lots of love.  xxx