Lat: 32:24.8. N : Long: 054:21.0 W.

Wednesday, 11^th June, 2014 – Noon Position, East of Bermuda, North Atlantic.

Dear All,

First I should apologise for yesterday's note, proving that one should always check one's sources carefully before going into print. Sorry President Barack Obama! I should have spelt your name correctly first time out.

Clearly I was too replete and dozy after Will's excellent sausage and spud supper!

A couple of days back I should also have noted that Sulana has now logged over 40,000 nautical miles in the time since her launching in August 2010. So that's an annual average of 10,000 +, especially when you take into account the time spent ashore for the 6 months summer lay-up in Grenada, during 2012. Not bad for a heavy old cruising yacht!

Today is working out somewhat better than we had expected. We are currently under full sail, and have been sailing since 09:00, heading about 060*M, at a speed of around 6.5 - 7.0 knots. This is much better than burning diesel. When one adds that on top of yesterday's surprising, and unforecasted, blow from the East, which lasted several hours and also allowed us to sail (albeit due North instead of North-East) the fuel situation is definitely getting better.

For the early part of today we were still under engine, pushing hard to get further North, and according to Nelius, when he came up we were heading back to America again, so he happily corrected that, thank Heavens!

I don't know what happened there, but clearly I will have to give more precise instructions to the night watch....?

When I came up to take a look at the change in motion just around 07:00 I decided we could motor-sail with the genoa out, and bore away a few degrees to starboard, to give us a more North-Easterly course and increased speed.

It was with some satisfaction then, that I read Chris Tibbs's email report a few minutes later, to see he recommended a course more towards the North-East, as that was exactly what we were doing.

No need to consider long on whether or not he was right, as we clearly already were in agreement on the need to stay East of the up and coming High pressure zone due to arrive in a few days time, otherwise we could (might well do anyway in fact!) get caught in light headwinds again.

Now it is all about maintaining our average speed and trying to keep up with the bottom edge of fair winds that will be brought down by a Low pressure zone currently forming up around Newfoundland. We feel the need for speed!

Chris has written for tomorrow, Thursday:

'12-1800                WNW-NNW 10-15 (possibly 13-18 if you get N and picked
up by the low)

18-2400                NNW-WNW 13-18 (less if you get pushed west today)'

This Low Chris mentions is what we are trying to hook into, by getting North and East, in order to be there, in line with its lower edge Latitude, ready and waiting for the fair breeze to send us Eastwards on our way across to the Azores. The keys to achieving this will be, first to get North to the Latitude and second to be far enough East so that we don't fall too quickly off the tail end of the good winds, as the system will work its way East at faster speeds than we can maintain.

Ah well, time for lunch soon, then its up the rig for a rig check, as we always do when at sea for long passages. Having had a couple of new major stays fitted, plus the main chainplates all removed and re-bedded, it is essential we keep watch on the rig to ensure it is performing as we expect.

Still no fish on the line..... Just one tanker seen in the last two days, too, so it's a quiet ocean out here.

Nelius has promised to have a go with the breadmaker later today, so we can look forward to a fresh loaf to match the banana loaf that Jason baked with yesterday's load of over-ripe bananas.

Next book on the line for me I hope to get into will be borrowing Will's chilling, but powerful account of the memoirs of a Boy Soldier's life in Sierra Leone, called 'A Long Way Gone', by Ishmael Beah.

Nothing but the really challenging stuff for us out here, and the time to read it!

By the way, the ocean seawater temperature has now droppped considerably (to around 25*C, by comparison with the 34*C of the Caribbean) and the air temperature outside and down below has become correspondingly much more comfortable. Nelius even asked me this morning about whether or not there was a duvet available tonight, to use on his berth!

Yours Aye,

Alan & the Sulana crew.