Yet another day has passed in high spirits and with good sailing. We have sped along with the cruising chute flying most of the day and now, at 2240 hours with the moon shining brightly overhead, the chute is continuing to fly well as the winds build. We have at last found the Trade Winds which bring good speed and wonderful sunshine and delightful fluffy clouds in the distance.

Today Oboe has been a hive of domestic activity. The day started with a spectacular sunrise quickly followed by a very large fish on the end of the line. Nigel leapt into action but as soon as he tried to put on the clutch to reel the fish in the line snapped and our biggest prize to date was gone plus quite a bit of the line and the lure.

Then suddenly everyone realised it was Monday and decided to do their washing. This is carefully pegged out on the upwind side of the boat so that if anything should fall off, despite the four to five pegs per item, it would at least land on the deck and not in the sea.

Washing was quickly followed by bread making with Mike at the bakery helm today. He completed the process from start to finish producing 12 bread rolls and one superb loaf. The rolls only lasted until lunch time but the loaf will be enjoyed tomorrow. Meanwhile Nigel casually but in a firm captain’s tone asked me to make some pastry. Cool hands and cold ingredients are not the easiest things to come by in this latitude. Still I gave it a go and produced some sort of dough from the rather dubious spread we have on board. Later in the day Nigel converted this to a stylist apple pie which we ate in the moonlight with custard laced with a little extra something – delicious! In fact we seem to have a dinner party most nights as the standard of cooking goes up and up.  Many of the chefs have now passed intermediate level three and are on the advanced cooking course now! All our ingredients seem to be holding out and we still have fresh fruit and vegetables on board. The only thing we are running short of is cereal so we shall be forced to have the odd egg and bacon breakfast or beans on toast – not too much of a hardship.

It is wonderful to be here and such a privilege to be able to sail across a silver sea with the moonshine lighting our way and surroundings. What a contrast to a few nights ago when we were in the middle of a storm. The Atlantic holds many surprises and is showing us its many moods. We are truly fortunate to be experiencing all these events on such a happy boat.

Iona