Fortunately the wind through the late half of yesterday and into today has moderated slightly, so the sailing was a lot more comfortable. We noticed late yesterday that one of the stays holding up the mast (made up of steel wire) had started to lose strands from the top of the stay, by its fitment with the mast. This we guess is as a result of the strain it had taken in the last few days beating into a Force 7. We took it easy last night therefore and this morning I went up the mast and lashed a rope to where the stay joined it, then from that we used a rope, pulley and shackle to take the load off the part broken stay. This took us 4 hours this morning, hence why we have  not made such good progress today.

 

In terms of wildlife, today has been quite interesting. Saw a lone dolphin last night as we were surveying the damaged stay then saw two Portuguese man o’ war jelly fish as I was up the mast this morning.

 

Still trucking along, heading as west as the wind will let us.

 

Hamsi

 

42:13.00N 37:52.41W