Position: 46:48:50N 15:27:00W

The wind dropped in early morning, down to the point that we put the engine on at 0430 because the wind was light but the swell was still huge.  The engine did a bit of playing around with the oil pressure alarm going off but we checked the engine and it was OK and I think there was a loose connection on the sender.

The seas have been fairly mountainous – well 3 metres – with at least two different wave trains going in different directions.  So Nutmeg has been swooping and diving in amongst the hills and valleys, trying to carve a track towards home.  It is difficult when there is no wind and big seas.

The wind has remained switched off all day.  We are motoring now in an oily calm and over the day the seas have eased and are a lot easier now.  The sky has been eery with a large tongue of cloud and “weather” licking down from the NE.  We hoped there would be some wind under it but so far nothing.  David described the sky as a mix of awesome & gruesome!

We saw a huge whale breach at one point and had a couple of welcome dolphins come and say hello.  They really lift your mood as I have to admit I have reached the stage of the voyage when I just want to get there and it is all I can do not to keep checking our progress and distance to go (400 miles to Falmouth).  For some reason I haven’t slept for the past 36 hrs and I am tired.  However I took advantage of the sunshine and no wind to dry out my gear and have a shave, so I feel a little more human.

The forecast is poor unfortunately – NE and East winds – dead against us – for the next four days.  So we are resigned to motorsailing to get as close as we can and see if we have enough fuel to punch our way there.

That’s all for now.