Hello all,

Making good progress in strong winds at the moment 30 gusting 40 knots, but they are from the right direction. This is the second day of strong winds but hopefully tomorrow as I move further south they should start to reduce. The good news is…I’m out of the &*^%$£*()&^ing Bay of Biscay!!

The pic for today is inside my cabin and like a small rodent I live in here.  Every now and then I venture out to see what's happening and maybe pull on a few ropes and grunt with satisfaction that everything is in order before burrowing back into my little den. It does have a garden with some fantastic views.

What you are seeing in the pic moving from left to right is: a small glimpse of the cooker and then sink and drainer which I am pleased to see all the washing up has been done. You then move round to my bunk then in the middle of the cabin is a largish table that can’t be seen due to the coats and jacket hung up on the compression post (that’s the main support structure upon which the mast is supported). Then going round there are two bunks which are hidden with a pile of clothes and other stuff before coming round to my chart table where I keep all communication systems and a further bunk which is behind the chart table but you can’t see. At the front is the heads with sink and further storage. This is useful as I can sometimes sit in there and have some privacy from myself if needs must.

The other day I had annoyed myself so much that I didn’t speak to myself for the rest of the day and went and sat in there for an hour.

This is my third day at sea and it is about this time that strange happenings start. The first strange happening is I start saying excuse me to the coats hanging up on the compression post when I pass them.

The other strange thing are the noises. There is a scientific explanation for this and it’s something to do with the need to find association of the familiar within the unfamiliar. There are many, many different sounds taking place the whole time on a boat all unfamiliar. The sound of the sea passing by the hull, the wind in the rigging, the creaking of the boat all of which give off their own frequency and when mixed up the brain can pick out particular frequencies and notes which it recognises and then play them back removing the non familiar frequencies. 

For example, there is a dog that I occasionally hear barking outside near the front sail, there is an old lady with a nasty cough under the sink, in the locker on the bunk opposite me I often hear an argument going on on the radio, there is a band that plays in the heads and some most peculiar shouting coming from under my chart table. None of the noises disturb me and actually when I haven’t heard one for a while I start to get concerned for it.

All for now

Ben