Position30 18.71N 47 52.5W

Monday 18^th May

Great progress today, 20 to 25 knots of wind, occasional heavier gusts and plenty of rain in bursts and some 160 miles made over the ground. A couple of the showers were torrential which brought further good news – natural showers for the crew. The pleasures of an Atlantic cruise, cavorting on deck with a jar of shampoo, in twenty knots of wind as the rain lashes horizontally, all to the apocalyptic accompaniment of searing flashes of lightening and instantaneous thunderclaps – must be somewhere near the back page of the brochure. However, clean bodies and a change of clothing are mutually more than welcome.

We’ve been dodging checking the distance to go, as it all seemed rather uphill, but today the GPS showed we’d only 999 miles to go to Flores in the Azores. Bermuda’s 878 back in a straight line, though we’ve sailed more than that round the low, - so tomorrow we should be half way there – maybe! In fact if we approach from the south west rather than the north, we’ll probably head direct to Horta where most of the facilities are located.

Knot of the day: Spanish Bowline  Nautical saying: Jack in the Basket

Total wash (NB beard)