We woke to wind and lots of it, yeah….  We pulled up our anchor Wednesday 8^th October at 9:03AM and headed off to Puerto Sherry 36:34.85N 6:14.76W 

From the moment we lifted our anchor, we sailed off down wind on a dead run for our next destination.   In fact we stayed on our dead run down wind for 37 miles.  As we left the harbor Fi prepared our breakfast while we goose winged out through the channel. It was not long until we had put the main sail away and we were under front sail only. Mind you we did not need a lot more, cruising a 6 Knots is pretty good.

It took a while to get the boat to settle down to be honest as I tried poling out the front sail in several combinations and running down wind with the front sail on the port side and then the starboard until everyone was happy and we just sat back and let Artie do all the work.

The winds we were experiencing are very similar to the trade winds that we will be picking up when we cross the Atlantic which got me thinking of all the modifications I would like to do to give silky the edge and make her a little more comfortable. The main one being a second spinnaker pole, you see the problem with mine is it is just too big and I struggle to get the front sail poled out however wonderful it is for the kite in light wind’s and the other thing I would like to do is run a 6mm cable from the crane at the top of the mast down to the bow just in front of the forestay so I can hank on a second front sail and pole one out either side.  This would increase the speed dramatically.  I could also keep a run down wind with out a kite and in a moderate breeze. Not to mention we could sail like it at night something we can not do with the kite. It would also reduce the work required on Artie our trusty auto pilot which means I do not have to feed him as much. So every one would be happy. Just got to figure out when I am going to do it all. I guess Gibraltar may be a long stop over.

Special comments by Fiona:  Another fantastic day’s sailing, finally we have wind and a lot of it!  Because we were going down wind it didn’t feel like we had 25 knots.  It wasn’t the most comfortable sail though as we rolled around a lot.  But at least we were getting somewhere fast, well, fast for us and not using the damn engine.  We anchored in the bay of Puerto Sherry but it wasn’t the most comfortable sleep as we rolled a fair bit through the night from the incoming swell.  It settled about 3am.  I am getting used to interrupted sleep and lack of it.

Day 78

Destination – Puerto Sherry

Traveling Direction – South East

Wind Direction – North West (25 Knots all day)

Swell – Moderate 2.5 mtrs

Average Speed – 5.3 Knots Flying for a single sail

Top Speed – 7.5 Knots Through the water

Total distance – 47.2 Nautical Miles

Travel Time – 8.94 Hours

Temperature – 25 degrees

Crew     - Fiona (Happy to be sailing again)

Missing Work – Not Yet

Expenses – €0

Next Destination – Cadiz