17.19N 55.19W  A very tough night last night with strong winds and squalls surrounding us.  It really was a case of ‘if the left one doesn’t get you – the right one will’ and quite apart from anything else it’s very uncomfortable up there in the cockpit at night without the cushions to sit on!!!  Oscar was manning the helm on his watch when a really savage squall struck with winds gusting over 30 knots, soaking him to the skin but he loved it…… the boat careers through the sea in these winds and surfs off the waves at up to 11 knots. The auto pilot doesn’t hold the wheel any longer so even if you lock it down and let the Hydro vane do most of the work you still have to watch the wheel which periodically reels out of control.

I’m reading a great book in the circumstances ‘Survive the Savage Sea’ by Dougal Robertson in which his family sailed around the world and got attacked by 30 killer whales and sunk just off the Galapagos Islands.  They survived for 37 days in their life raft in a very hostile environment until rescued – fascinating methods of survival – it makes our voyage sound like a picnic at the seaside……….

It was fantastic to get the Twistle up and working again but calamity struck today when a pin sheered out of a shackle which was holding the whole mechanism taut (not at all the fault of the Twistle) and there was a loud bang as both poles measuring 6 metres long and weighty whirled around still attached to the ends of their sheets (lines) before one of them came crashing through the forward head (loo) hatch (which was a blessing as it halted it in its tracks) and the other going crazy in 25 knots of wind.  Paul, Michael and Oscar all went haring up to the front (life jackets with harnesses on and clamped to the boat) where followed a very hair raising ten minutes as the three men literally hung on to the pole and ropes trying to tame the madness.  Bennett kept the boat into the wind by putting on the engine…… And I put my life jacket on and shoes – for what purpose remains a mystery!  No injuries apart from a few surface nicks to Michael’s hands……and a nasty gouge in the loo wall……. a very lucky escape………..

So we have now resorted to the main and stay sails to sail us through the night which I think will be a long one as the weather forecast is thunder and rain, strong winds and lumpy seas.

I have just cooked and we have all enjoyed a spaghetti carbonarra with parmesan cheese – having worked up quite an appetite!   The mince, kidneys and thankfully the tough old chicken have all gone ‘off’ and it was with some relief that we committed them to the deep!  With two or three days to go we have food enough on board to do the entire Atlantic trip again!  Poor old Dougal Robertson with his nibble of onion and fragment of orange peel – but for the grace of God – our tastes have really changed though – I can’t even contemplate a cup of tea or coffee – we drank so much initially it tastes like poison now and I think we are all enjoying plainer food in much smaller quantities than I envisaged.  Beans on toast, sausage and bacon sandwiches, scrambled eggs, muesli with dried fruits, yogurt, marmite on toast, tuna with pasta are all favourites  We have all lost weight and this coupled with the absence of any booze has caused the high blood pressure readings to plummet…….and despite the odd pitfall it is all fairly trouble free!