"Dolphins!"  Juliet woke Charlie and Geoff from their slumbers to watch ten dolphins playing around the boat in the phosphoresence.  Bright stars were flying off the dolphins' bodies as they lept in the air and raced forward to the bow.  It was the most incredible spectacle.  They played near us for around 10 minutes and then peeled off and disappeared into the darkness.

 

It was another awesome night and soon peace was restored as the men went back down below.  A few hours' solitude is a real treat in these conditions.

 

We have continued to be dogged by an adverse current, which has limited our 24 hour run to 150 miles.  However, this morning we finally managed to shake it off and speed over the ground has been restored to normal levels.  We are heading north of our rhum line, since last night Herb was predicting a lack of wind along the direct route.  This means that we are heading towards Hurricane Alberto, which feels a bit strange, but the idea is that we will turn more eastwards once we hit the peripheral winds of 15-20 knots.

 

We also saw dolphins this morning, including a very tiny one, spotted by Alice.  I would have loved to photograph it, but couldn't because most of the time it was slipstreaming its mother.

 

 

This afternoon we saw whales from afar.  It was hard to tell what type they were - we just saw grey shapes in the water. 

 

Last night the boat develped a slight wobble when pushed forward on a wave.  It could be felt from anywhere aft of the companionway.  It didn't feel as though it was serious, but we wanted to know what was causing it, so this morning we took the sails down and Charlie went for his third mid-Atlantic swim.  He emerged from underneath the boat with a small piece of weed, which had prevented one blade of our max-prop from folding properly.  The wobble was instantly completely cured. 

 

At 1300 hrs today (1500 UTC) we had 640 miles to go.  We have been at sea for six days, so if we finish the remainder in another four days, our estimates might be quite accurate.  But anything can happen between here and Flores...