This morning as Pip and I lay asleap in bed a flying fish came through the hatch above our berth and landed on the floor, where it juddered around, leaving lots of fish scales and making a very fishy smell.  While I was making pancakes for breakfast another flying fish came in through the hatch above the galley, narrowly missing the jug of pancake mixture.  They were obviously enjoying good flying conditions this morning!

 

Early today we passed another ARC boat called White Heron:

 

 

They called us up on the VHF radio and we had a chat.  They are having difficulty connecting their iridium phone and asked whether we could log their position today, to which we agreed, and we also said we would send an email to some of their friends and family who would have been concerned at their lack of communication.  They were very grateful and have promised to buy us a drink in St Lucia, (no getting out of it now!)

 

This morning we passed what we consider to be the half way mark.  Our GPS looks like this:

 

 

We have had yet more lovely sailing conditions, although it has been incredibly hot.  Even Amanda has been seeking shade!  To give some idea of our view:

 

 

In the 24 hours to midday today we logged another high mileage day, having flown the spinnaker the whole time.  The worldcruising website log will total around 190 miles.  Not only is the spinnaker a fast sail, giving us at least a knot more boatspeed, but it also gives the boat far greater stability than the genoa.  The increased speed also helps this, as it means we are keeping up with a higher proportion of the waves, rather than going through so many.

 

While eating lunch in the cockpit today the spinnaker guy suddenly released and the pole swung forward and hit the forestay.  Nick was on the helm and he took the boat downwind, while Charlie ran up onto the foredeck and found that the guy had worn through at the pole end.  We quickly snuffed the kite and re-tied the shackle onto the guy, then flew the spinnaker again.

 

 

 

 

Charlie has had a mid-Atlantic shave:

 

 

And finally, I am pleased to report that the impending loo roll crisis has been prevented.  We still have 6.5 loo rolls left.  The slowing of consumption is not a result of new techniques, but the fact that all of us (other than Pip) had streaming colds for the first week of the trip, which have now disappeared.  So we are feeling more relaxed on that front...