15:25.438N 35:16.874W

We’ve just about past the quarter distance mark , which considering the weather isn’t too bad . We have covered 559 miles so far which by 16:00 UTC will work out at about 116 miles a day. That figure is a bit skewed because of our slow start , the last 24 hours we have clocked 127 miles and hopefully the rest of the trip will be closer to that figure.

The problem with the weather is where it is coming from . Traditional trade winds run East to West at 270 degrees in a straight line from Cape Verdes to St Lucia , unfortunately at the moment they are coming from the north east which is pushing us a little bit south all the time.  We could sail on a due west course but that would put us at an angle to the fairly large waves powering through. By trial and error we have found it is much more comfortable to sail dead downwind and down waves. We are also picking up more speed this way and Weyve is much happier and we need to keep her happy if she’s going to be our home for many years to come . Up until this morning the wind speed was 22-25 knots with gusts of 28 knots and waves 3 to 4 metres high – as predicted.  Last night we peaked our top speed surfing (i.e.  dropping ) down the face of a wave at 11.2 knots !!

At about 1.00a.m today our chart plotter decided we weren’t on a course of 169 degrees at 6.2 knots but had turned right to 315 degrees and were going 21.5Knots , despite the  fact that the compass and the position of the moon agreed with me . I have to admit that in my semi-comatose state I was somewhat befuddled for a while but after about half an hour the plotter suddenly woke up , mumbled some sort of apology and draw a straight line back to where we should be.

Paper back books – if you do a trip like this take lots with you , especially crime thrillers and make sure they are of various lengths. I’ll tell you why. I prepared for the trip by downloading loads of audio books ( my preferred form of ‘reading ‘ nowadays ) but guess what happened just after I blared out Rule Brittania at the start , you guessed it – my phone blew a gasket and has died !! Luckily my sister and the marina ‘take what you want’ shelf provided us with plenty of reading matter of the ‘best selling ‘ crime thriller genre  before we left.

The three I’ve read so far have been absolutely rubbish , plot so thin you can see through to the back cover if you hold it up to the light and take about an hour and a half to read . But here’s the thing , once you finished it you put it straight back between the ‘ Marmite & jams’  Tupperware and the ‘ assorted chargers & audio ‘ Tupperware to stop them sliding and banging all over the shop. We’ve got paperbacks on the snacks shelf , in the Chinese specialty food section, cups and glasses cupboard and anywhere else you could mention. Voila – nice quiet boat. Good little sailors life tip , that one. You’re welcome.

Feeling a little sad for the flying fish today , they are sweet little things and provide hours of visual entertainment but every day we have to consign three or four of the critters to the deep when they have foundered on our decks.

Lots of fun  this  morning – got pooped by a larger than normal breaking wave and Jan got the entire load sitting at the helm ,  oh how I laughed.  Not expecting any lunch today .