Day 9

Well the days roll on….  Wind continued around 20 – 22 knots all day yesterday but seas never pulled themselves together so continued to be confused.  It wasn’t uncomfortable (use of double negative very appropriate here!) and we stayed on a 2 sail reach all day.  Switched to poled out genoa at around 10pm so now directly downwind and down the waves which makes it a bit easier on the neck (it’s always the neck which starts to ache as it tries to balance the head to align with the involuntary movement of the body with the motion of the boat!)  This morning the wind has dropped further – around 15 knots right now and consequently our speed has dropped to below 8 knots.  If we want to get in before dark tomorrow (Friday) then we have to keep an average of 7.2 knots – it’ll be touch and go though the forecast is for the usual 20k – fingers crossed.... If the worst comes to the worst a night landing looks fine if we have to.

Had a large pod of dolphins playing and bow-riding with us yesterday afternoon – not sure what they were – possibly Frasers – no obvious beak but not easy to identify properly in the heavy seas.  Just had 3 cargo ships pass us – one of them we had to call up to ensure that he’s seen us – passed within about ¼ mile!

Now here’s some exiting news:

Mr & Mrs M Findlay are absolutely delighted to announce the engagement of their daughter Helen to Mr James Bale, son of Mr & Mrs T Bale on 19^th September 2015

Whoopee!!

Date and time: 24th September 10.15 local (GMT + 6.5 hrs) 

Position:  S18:53:891 E067:36:021

24 hours distance: 198 nm