The wind has picked up and moved to the south and east, so we are back on the wind and butting an increasingly lumpy sea. Sleeping was not easy for folks last night, adjusting to the other tack and keeping glued to the bunk, but we are managing well enough. The main sail has behaved herself, and the repair is holding, though we are nursing her a bit just in case.

This is the good tack in the respect that opening the fridge does not result in a deluge of cartons, cans and packets, and the microwave does not disgorge its contents at you. It is the bad tack for ablutions and toileting, though. This means that it takes a while to wash or shower – or more particularly, to clear up after the showering. We won’t go into the other problems it creates!

We have covered about one third of the distance to the Azores at a reasonable pace, so are fairly pleased. We marked the occasion by changing the clocks, so are now only 2 hours behind GMT/UTC . We should have decent wind till Sunday, though we may have to ease northwards of the ideal course when there is more east in it. Sometimes it is best just to deal with the wind you have rather than worry about the wind that you might get!

Jim made some progress today on his book, and also identified the strange little sail fish creatures that are blown about on the surface of the ocean – thousands of them with beautiful transparent shell-like sails: the children’s section of the newspaper he bought for the plane names it as a Portuguese Man of War, though it is unlike any we have seen before. Lorraine gave us Canadian toasted cheese, which is a bit like a frying pan cheese toastie with stuff in it. She has lost a crown, so is eating one-sidedly, but hopes to use our dental repair kit to glue it back in – needs careful application or the jaws will be inoperable!

We all managed a shower this afternoon, so the atmosphere has improved no end, though the Atlantic pollution count has risen to unprecedented levels. This may account for the absence of whales in the vicinity, though Jim saw dolphins at a safe distance earlier. We’ve also seen our first Atlantic Tern for a long time, and the skua seems to have adopted us – he landed on the pulpit today and wobbled for a while before deciding that being airborne was safer!

Oh for the wings…

Watergaw