Over the last day we've experienced frustratingly low winds, hence only making the little dstance we did. At 0200 we were bobbing around at a speed of about 1kt.  It then improved to average 5-6kts. The wind picked up a bit around tea time (very nice Portuguese lemon cake) and shifted to being northerly such that we put the Spinnaker up and sped up.

 

We understand the trade winds to have been pushed south by the lows and gales around the Canaries and Madeira.  So we are still heading for the top of the Cape Verde Islands and swing further west from there.

 

During his morning nap, Al noticed a smell of diesel.  Uh oh!  After investigation, we realised our diesel tank was overflowing a tiny bit due to the tank being full and diesel expanding in the heat ( as now in the tropics!).  As we are Not Motoring, of course, we had to run the engine in neutral to use up a bit of fuel.  This meant the batteies could be fully charged.  Tom the DG does not perform well without speed!

 

Three boys have swiched to wearing pants and lifejackets only and are working on their lifejacket tans.  Ross and Al had an afternoon getting out the toolbox and spent 2 hours mending the clip on the jockey pole.  Alex enjoyed watching them whilst only having to helm in light wind and then made chinese pork stir-fry with a g&t in hand.

 

This morning we found a dead squid on the foredeck, bringing our ARC fishing score to -16 (-40 + 20 for catching a fish + 4 for 4cm long).  Hamish is still with us but not succesful so far.

 

We haven't seen as much wildlife today, except a few flying fish and birds.  We are also further away from shipping channels and haven't seen anoher boat for ages.  This also means the twitter on VHF is quieter and fewer people playing music down the emergency Channel 16 can be heard.

 

We switched to a 'mother watch system', such that one person is mother for 24 hours and has time to catch up on sleep, personal and boat chores - of which Ross has a long list including scrubbing parts of the deck with a toothbrush! (lucky Alex tomorrow) (Jamie please note!).

 

All still well. Thank you for all your emails and updates.

 

Ross, Al, Al, Paul & Will