At around 12 noon today we took the decision to head straight down wind and to erect the Genoa pole out system. This involved setting up several  sheets, guys and a pole halyard. This is challenging stuff on a bucking rolling foredeck. So all in all it took about an hour to get all the “strings” in place and after a great team effort we were Goose Winging, and surfing down the Atlantic rollers.

It has been a very tiring day to day, due to the VERY rolly seas, and the difficulty in simply trying to move about the boat, not to mention staying in one place long enough in your bunk to even think about going to sleep. Jennie produced a superb Chicken Curry last night. How she managed that in this bucking bronco I have no idea, “Praise be to the crew!!” The picture below gives a flavour of the “motion”,

I did not even consider fishing today, because the motion would have make moving around the aft deck quite precarious, and with a Poled out Genoa and a Main sail boom preventer in place. Stopping the boat in the event of catching a fish would have been a major undertaking. Simply not worth the effort.

Talking of the preventer. The jammer on the turning block decided to commit suicide this evening. Just exploded in to several bits of plastic. As this was an expensive Harken block, less than a year old,  I was not amused. So another repair/replacement job for me tomorrow.

Our last 24 hour run was much more encouraging, with some 159NM completed. Today has been a mixed bag, with us only managing  5NM in 2 hours  to then creaming along at 7.5knts. I am having to learn to be patient. Not an easy thing for me!!! But “Hobsons Choice”.

Just 2011 NM to go…………………………….