36:14.602 N  007:59.441W

07/07/10

16:00

Well the wind strength decreased and the sail area increased until we had no more canvas  to set.   Then the wind, all 7 knots of it, backed ENE and when we were practically dead in the water I gave up and released  the Yanmar beast.  Given the most recent wind prognosis we could wind up motoring most of the remaining 280 miles, which would get us in fairly early Friday morning.

During the day, the sun almost managed to burn off the grey haze, for a while it was a very pale blue haze, but the grey has triumphantly returned. Ugh.

08/07/10

00:15

Wind has gone SW  Force 3 so we’re still motoring.  No sunset this evening just the return of the grey. It’s much warmer now even in the evening.  Very quiet night.  We were able to make water again so another round of showers no problem. We had tuna for dinner, but we had bought it in Horta.  This is the first crossing not to catch any fish. The big Swan had the same experience.  Lots of motoring and no fish.

02:30

A cargo ship overtakes us from behind and passes us a half mile off our starboard bow. It’s amazing how much   closer he looks in the dark.  Very pleased with the AIS and the Radar.

As all shipping is converging or coming from Gibraltar we’ll have lots of company from now on.

09:00

Wind is WSW Force 1, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so low. The grey mush we’re encapsulated in has gotten really warm. The sea is glassy apart from the wakes of passing freighters. Only 150 miles to go  so we’ll be in very early tomorrow.

11:00

The wind has rocketed up to WNW Force 2. The Sun is having another go at burning off the grey sludge.

Steve took took some pictures of a different yacht transport ship than the one we used. which passed us earlier this morning. The ships are all deck cargo, a very different system than on Dockwise.