16:22.76N 38:23.87W

I promised a blog every day and yesterday I was so busy I failed to deliver on my promise. So what on earth were we doing? Here are some of the highlights.

We have a watch system which Jane designed. If we worked in a factory or Mc Donald’s we would probably call it the shift system. We are generally all up and together at about 10.00 when we have an informal briefing meeting when we discuss progress and the plans for the day. Yesterday morning Ian was finishing his 6am to 10 am watch when he saw a whale next the boat. It was in his estimation two thirds the size of the boat, ie 30 feet and only a few meters off the beam. Claire thought it was a Killer Whale so no swimming today.

Half an hour later Ian had caught another big Dorado. This one got away but within minutes he had caught another 2 kilo fish.

The old time sailors taking their boats to “The New World” did not have GPS and used butter instead.  What am II talking about? The navigational _expression_ they used was go South until the butter melts and then turn left. So yesterday our butter was melting and as we don’t really want to go to Venezuela we prepared to go west. This was quite a big job for us, reorganising and arranging the boat for a change of direction which took us several hours.

The weather was lousy yesterday and although it was 25 degrees it was cloudy and grey and we even had a bit of rain. The state of the sea i.e. waves and wind result in a constant rolling swell in the Atlantic. This can be smooth and pleasantly calming  or can be rough, irregular and rather unpleasant. Yesterday we had a confused sea which we did not like and neither did Capisce. Once or twice it knocked her off course so quickly that her auto helm mutinied, a bit unnerving.

Yesterday was day 10 and we officially crossed our half way point at about 4 pm yesterday afternoon. We were 1424 miles from both St Lucia and Tenerife. We celebrated with another tin of non-alcoholic beer and fresh Dorado with garlic chilli and lemon butter! No Fray Bentos  for us.

I am getting a bit fed up with all the glory Mr Cleverclogs , Ian is getting so I thought I’d better have a go myself, I am the skipper after all.  See below for proof of my achievements!!

Thank you for the emails and messages of support which we have received, we would like to that both Patrick and Lucy for them both.