20;00 We continued all day under spi,with many changes of helmsman,as the going is tough and Acool needs more than the autopilotOur speed is excellent and the morale high.After dark it freshened to 22knots and we took the spi down.We gybed to starboard,which allows us to sail closer to SL.The wind holds but we cannot sail straight to SL,it is directly downwind and no sailing boat can do this.We need an angle to the wnd and hence the gibing and the additional miles.We have sailed 900 miles to SL but probably 1200 through the water.The night watch,mine is 20-00-24:00,was lovely.Sedate sailing under main and genoa ,beautiful clear starry night and the Atlantic!

Saturday 26 November 2011

07:45 At break of dawn all hands are on deck for the spinnaker hoist.It goes well.The threat of calm weather has gone, now we have days of steady trade winds ahead of us.The forecast is up to Wednesday but at the moment there is no reason to doubt it will continue.We need good trades till the next weekend to reach Shangrila,eh I mean Saint Lucia

Today is Stellios’s nameday! Chronia polla Stellara and all the best.Mimis produced a monumental fasolada for lunch.Excellent for confined spaces.

The day is magnificent.Nice breeze,although not from the perfect direction,with a deep blue sea.We don’t cook for dinner and latish various famished sailors are observed raiding the pantry.We have given up fishing.We hooked one biggish one,saw it in the distance but could not reel it in due to our speed. As slowing down is out of the question,better not to fish.

At nightfall we lowered the red monster as a precaution.Its our only spi and we have about another week of sailing ahead of us.

The night was difficult with light and shifting winds.Acool sailed at 8-9knots but our VMG the speed at which we approach SL,was a disappointing 5knots!

Sunday 27 NOV.

In the morning our fears are confirmed.We have breeched 1500miles to go,but have lost a place in the ranking.We raise the spi at the crack of dawn..It allows us to sail more downwind fast.Our VMG increases significantly and the miles to destination are gobbled up.At noon we sight a killer whale not more than 10 metres away!It plays around Acool for more than an hour and disappears.Thankfully it did’nt become too chummy.We have to decide what to do at night.Every time we take it down,we lose to the competition

12:45 We are at sea one week exactly and have covered 1230 miles to SL.We need another 110 to reach halfway.Patience.The second week is expected to be faster.