Tuesday 31st of May Lat 37:46.8N  Long 019:29.3W Cog 110degs Sog 5knots

Hi once again to all our fans and followers out there from the Tranquilizer crew!

Its Tuesday 31st today and the sun is just about shining through the clouds.

Progress has somewhat stalled overnight, having made good way since leaving Porta Delgado Sunday morning the wind gods threw us a curved ball just after midnight last night, its swerving all over the place and reduced in strength. So currently its sails away and engine on to continue to our waypoint at Cap St Vincent on the SW Portguese coast(from where we hope to continue SW to Gibralter}

Everyone has settled in to some sort of daily routine and getting along fine with each other. Stefano s english is improving [well he had no choice!] but the the Barracuda still proves elusive, excitement reached fever pitch yesterday when ripples were spotted around the line. Stefano pulled the line in pronto [quickest we've seen him move so far] only to reveal his catch as a length of blue nylon rope!

We are certainly not going hungry here, Dan has shown himself to be a dap hand at the galley [he will make a lovely wife if someone can tie him down one day] though my own chicken casserole also seemed popular. I;m learning the hardway here, when your Mother for the day [cooking and cleaning duties] don;t cook too nice a meal or you will be press ganged back before its necessarily your turn again!

Yesterday was a big day for me, Championship Play off final between Reading and Swansea. I proudly wore my Reading shirt at the helm at kick off time but nearly 24 hours on I have no idea what the result was! Can someone please send a carrier pigeon over with the result....if Reading lost please lie!

Sleep is a precious commodity, with a watch system of 2 hours on....6 hours off you snatch some ZZZZs whenever you can. Dan seems to work on auto pilot, with changing conditions and events from our first departure out of Horta he literally cat naps whenever he can [while rest of us enjoy champagne in the hot tub} I made that last bit up or did I? these German built Bavaria's are very well equipped!

Weve a good mix of crew, 3 x English (Dan, Clive and George), 1 x Spanish (Otty), 1 x Italian (Stefano or Gwen as he's now known) and a Scot exiled in Dubai.Still working on a joke to link us together!

Given the unintended divert to Porta Delgado and the snails pace we have now dropped to its too soon to guess when we'll reach Gibralter - Saturday at best, with Sunday looking more realistic.

Chow for now,

Clive

(P.S. big thanks to Sail Ionian for laying on 6 complimentary bikini clad waitresses serving champagne & canapes at 6pm ech day, a nice thoughtful

touch)