Clear skies kept us busy counting the stars - millions…. including a clear view of the Milky Way without light pollution! Still heavy seas – so an occasional spray wave kept us all awake on watch with a soaking! The morning brought more fresh winds – up to 20 knots, sunshine and a great sail. A cargo vessel (Cape Britannia) bound for Singapore via the Panama passed within 2nm of our bow – comfortable distance (with a radio exchange to acknowledge they had seen us on AIS)! Then the morning shackle and sail inspection revealed a small rip appearing on the jib (headsail) along the leach – so a quick sail change to a larger headsail – the Genoa (reefed) kept us on our way. However, the main suddenly showed the same signs (a tear along the leach)  – approximately 1/3 of the way up – a more difficult problem. Decision made to reef in, ascend the mast and try to stick sail repair cloth to prevent the tear getting bigger –a first at sea in 15 knot winds and relatively heavy seas – quite a struggle and too difficult to get any good repair cloth to stick in the winds. So we are resorting to a Genoa sail fro now – still tracking 5-6 knots on a Westerly heading. Another problem to solve is a prediction of strong SW winds on Thursday overnight – coming off the coast and moving northward quickly at 25-30 knots! So, a slower westerly course should keep us clear of the worst. We will keep updating the wind file predictions to keep a watch on developments. Noon day run of 118nm - not a record distance but on a favourable course. We end a busy and tiring day – from all of us on Magic Friday. Piko, Phil, Di.