Wind in our hair and Kahia’s sails. Double-reefed main, full Yankee and staysail. Average wind speed is 15 to 18 knots on our port beam and we are romping along between 6 to 8 knots.

Today we had to take the computer out of the oven (along with other electrical gear), as a thunderstorm surprised us at 01.00 hrs. It was all hands on deck, when Catherine saw the first lightening on her watch. First we furled the Yankee in and laughed when looking forward , seeing the now redundant Spinnaker pole without its sail pointing towards the thunderclouds like a giant lightening conductor(beckoning)...so down it came. Our routines work even in the dark, having had a lot of practice a few days ago...

Reefing the main sail, putting  electrical equipment into the oven (for protection in case of a lightning strike), turning off radio and plotter (just in case) and batten down the hatches, we had 15 minutes until lightening an torrential rain engulfed us and we were down below all snug and dry.

The remote control came into its own by steering the boat from the chart table with the auto-helm.

Catherine: This was my first thunderstorm at sea and although I was surprised how efficient I got on with the jobs, I felt anxiety for the first time on the trip. At night things appear always more dramatic. When it was over I felt the relieve of tension and collapsed exhausted into the bunk, grateful that Paul was happy to stay up. He on the other hand was loving it and felt satisfied handling the boat appropriately to the situation. His excitement was probably charged as well by the electrical static in the air, I suspect.

The added bonus to last night, was that 7 days of sea salt was washed off Kahia in the torrential rain.

Only 80 Miles to go.

While the majority of you will be sleeping soundly tonight, we shall be anchoring in Cascais about 03.00 hrs UTC.