End of day 2 position: 25:33.8 N 017:04.1 W (150 miles south of La Gomera)

Position timestamp: Monday 11 Jan 2021 12:00 WET / GMT / UTC

Distance travelled last 24 hours: 155 NM

Reduction in distance to destination last 24 hours: 134 NM

Distance travelled total: 302 NM

Average speed since departure: 6.3 knots

Shortest distance to destination: 2662 NM

ETA base on shortest distance and average speed so far: midnight on 28 January (19.5 days in total)

The wind direction changed as forecast. From NNW yesterday at midday, it was NNE by midnight and it is now from the NE. Our direction of travel has changed in line with this, from SSW to west, which means we are now heading directly towards Grenada.  Over the next 24 hours I’ll assess whether we are far enough south to avoid the lights winds that are forecast to drift in from the north later this week.

The wind was light (8-12 knots) late yesterday afternoon so we furled our regular headsail and deployed our gennaker which is two and a half times the size.  We swapped back at 21:00 when the wind picked back up to16-20 knots. The gennaker was out again this morning at 08:00. The wind was still in the upper teens but the seas were flatter and, in the unlikely event of a problem, we would have daylight to help us sort it out.

We both slept much better last night. This was largely down to us being dog tired having slept so badly the first night. But it helped that the seas were less lumpy and we are becoming re-accustomed to the boat’s motion and its creaks and groans while under way.

I was slightly short changed on the sleep front when Linda woke me at 01:45, ten minutes before my alarm would have gone off, to say that all of the navigation instruments had crashed and she was going on deck to steer while I sorted things out below. Long story short, there’s problem with  the positioning of the main switch panel. It is directly behind you if your are sitting at the chart table. If you lean back, you end up against the switches. Linda had been pushed back against the switch panel as we went over a wave and switched off all three instrument breakers. Easily and quickly resolved but we need to get a clear perspex cover for the panel to avoid the problem in future.

We’ve had dolphins with us several times the past two days but only a few at a time and they haven’t hung around for long. That changed this morning when a very large pod of small dolphins entertained us for the best part of twenty minutes. What a great way to start the day.

All is well

Allan