Position 30:34.06N 13:44.10W

 

170 miles to go (equivalent to Channel Islands and back from Plymouth)

 

Moderately good progress today – but more a tale of what could have been.  Winds F4/5, so we should have been tramming along downwind, easily reaching GC tomorrow afternoon.  But the sea is really lumpy, with no set pattern, and coming from various directions, so we have been forced to stay reefed down to the second reef and reduced genoa, and to sail higher angles than we would have liked.  Anything else and the Autohelm struggles to keep  decent course, and has occasionally lost control.  Humans have had the same problem.  So we may still arrive early evening tomorrow, but we are in the hands of the weather.  Indications from GC are that we may be able to get a tow even at night;  hope so, the anticipation of a long cool beer is increasing.

 

The sea also makes life on bord fairly uncomfortable – tasks that would be simply normally take at least 3 times as long and are 3 times as difficult (the massive coffee stain on James’s shirt bears witness)  Still, we are all looking forward to a dinner of vegetable curry, courtesy of Fiona (and of course Mr. D)

 

Meanwhile the list of jobs for GC is (hopefully) just about finished;  couple of big ones, but mainly checks and minor repairs / improvements.