8.39S 114.23W  Tuesday 18^th March – Day 11 (half way point).  Well the dreaded BB finally floored me yesterday and as I lay in my delirium, cooled by our super effective 12 volt fans, I wondered how I could possibly have forgotten them off our ‘best buy’ widget list!!  The boys kindly did my watches for me last night even though Bennett isn’t really a hundred per cent yet and this morning I felt well enough to make pancakes with loads of lemon juice and sugar……….

Luckily we’ve only had a couple of minor irritations to worry about – two of the vertical batons escaped from the mainsail and got caught on the boom causing their sheaths to rip so we’ve made a temporary repair.  A little diesel is leaking from the spare jerry cans under the saloon table and the sheet (rope) we would use if we changed to a port tack has worked itself loose from the genoa.

It still seems absolutely extraordinary to me that we can bowl along in the middle of an ocean, under sail, for a month at a time, generate our own power by a variety of methods (wind vane, solar panel, tow generator, engine and generator) and desalinate sea water, wash our clothes in a washing machine, take a hot power shower when we feel like it, eat curries and roast dinners, watch movies and play music whilst writing and receiving dozens of emails!!  It is a far cry from our forebears the Hiscocks  and the Pyes who set off for years at sea without so much as loo, never mind a generator or a fridge (or even an engine for that matter)!  It’s not so much a matter of sailing any more, with GPS and all the modern equipment on offer these days, it is more about keeping it all functioning.

Paul has just finished listening to the morning radio net – mostly all is well although Cayuko’s furling gear has now disintegrated.  Two boats are near to him and have offered their assistance; one is going to drop off a spare genoa in case he can make use of it.  We have thirty ARC boats coming right up behind us now so even once we all pass him he will not be alone and he still has enough diesel to motor 300 miles.

Bennett has gone back to bed, he is painfully thin and seems to have completely lost his appetite.  We are planning a beef casserole this evening with potatoes, carrots and peppers to waken it up!