Whales sighted.

Moonspray
Sat 23 Aug 2008 14:10
Well we escaped from the Bay of Biscay when at last we picked up a North wind and were able to go fast in the direction that we wanted for the first time.  Then last night the wind died again and so instead of racing along under spinnaker down the coast of Portugal we have drifted all day. However in compensation yesterday evening about nine we were joined by a pod of whales what an amazing sight to see them for real only a hundred yards or so from the boat.  We continue to have multiple small problems most of which we can solve but a more significant difficulty is a dodgy alternator belt on the engine, this generates our electric power as well as cooling the engine.  We tried to replace it but found we had the wrong size spare so we are making do and reducing our power use to the minimum.  The new solar panels are helping.
 
At least today we are all wearing shorts and t shirts so we feel some progress has been made lets hope we get going, We are festooned with drooping sails.