Wednesday 13^th May

Steady progress, though the fine weather has given way to cloud and rain as the system passes to the north of us. The breeze continued from the south west for most of the night, then wandered frustratingly around for a hour or so before settling in from the north and freshening. A bit of action this morning as the genoa developed a rip along the leech. This combined with a small jam in the main as it was furled kept everyone busy for a while, but now the genoa’s rolled away to protect it, and we’re rolling north under genoa no 2. The bimini zip then decided to join the fun and partly undid itself. It’s also now sorted and well stitched up to prevent a repeat just in time for - an excellent set of lunchtime wraps. The weather patterns are slightly unstable, with another low building to the south east, so the aim is to start making some more northing. Yesterday we had dolphins for a short while, but they failed to understand our methods of communication and sheered off shortly

Knot of the day Fisherman’s bend / Bucket hitch.  Nautical term: Drown the Miller