Position:  31:34.6N 51:37.2W

 

The otherwise accepted norm of each of us writing the blog in turn has been disrupted by Simon’s need to exert absolute focus to the next culinary masterpiece – also know as the game of “what do I do with that Tuna next?”  With expectations really high the meatlovers have shelved the longed for notion of an evening accompanied by Fray Bentos and are taking over the blog for one night.  That means two things.  Firstly we will get another delicious meal and, secondly Simon will exact his revenge in doing a blog for two days on the trot.  I shall have to be careful what I say. 

 

Ate the first batch of home made Yoghurt this morning.  Skipper slightly upset when Dr D asked what flavour it was.... Anyway seemed to go down very well for breakfast.  Lunch was (no tuna!) bacon, ham, eggs, french cheeses, home made bread – so we’re not all suffering.

 

When we wrote last night we had just turned off the engine – breathing a huge sigh of relief (as opposed to stale diesel fumes) and hoped that we had run sufficiently far North to get out of the ITCZ (llok it up on Google!) and into the Westerly air flow.  That looked good for a while until about midnight when the first of a few heavy downpours got us and eventually we doused the spinnaker at 0200.  At 0320, after one minor incident of heading 230M (about Miami) we turned the engine on again and started heading for Europe once more.  Our efforts were rewarded and, after another particularly heavy downpour, we started sailing at 0500 in a light Southerly.  That allowed us to clock up the first 1000 miles from Antigua.  Over the next three hours the wind built and swung round to North by West and has been blowing at about 10-15knots since then.  Speed has been at about 7kn since and we have had the sea to ourselves – having passed by one other yacht at about 0530 this morning.

 

Hope that we have now done enough N in our course to get us out of the calms and are now a couple of hundred miles N of a yacht which Grace put us in touch with.  they still seem to being plagued by calms – so fingers crossed.

Started fishing again this evening – but so far no luck.  We are under strict instructions that only a Wahoo will do.