Position:  37:46.4N 38:53.3W

 

Last night after the last blog was sent the carnivores in the crew were rewarded for their efforts with meatballs – which were even more delicious than the Fray Bentos from a couple of nights ago.  And so began another night watch – last night helped by a full moon so bright that there was no need for any torches or other lights as we reefed and unreefed the main – dependant on the then wind.  Wind was mostly in the South East and the barometric pressure seemed to be rising.  Taking that with the GRIB files, we felt we were at the bottom end of the High and hoped, by staying N then we would start to get freed in the coming NE wind.  When the opportunity came to tack and maintain our correct heading we took it – not least as it would enable us to empty the galley sink.

 

As dawn broke the wind started to go light as expected and we turned on the engine at 0800 to skirt round the area with no wind and, as I write this, we seem to be back in 12-14knots of wind and are sailing again.  Sadly the wind is on the nose again and so progress to our final destination is a bit like a tired crab – it feels like three steps sideways for every one that we go forward.

 

Today has seen something of a lift in the spirits (although not in the whisky) as we have really made some progress – we really do have less than a Fastnet to go.  On the subject of spirits we will need to get there fairly soon – or we may be forced to start drinking gin as the sun goes down...

 

Otherwise we have had the usual visit by dolphins.  They seem to coincide their visits with tea time – no doubt wondering what today’s freshly baked cake will be.  I hope they come back tomorrow, but I am told that we have run out of sugar so we may not have any more fresh cake to offer them.  In addition we had a distant visit from a pod of whales.  Not sure how many there were – we suspect there were only a couple and they were some way off.  Still waiting to catch that elusive fish – or else it is back to the tins again for us tonight.  We fill our days with books – I dont think I have read so much in my life and are in danger of needing a new library on board.  Maybe now is the time to study the yachtmaster syllabus...

 

Lastly we have just been overtaken by another yacht motoring in much the same direction as us.  They were too far away to see what there were, but judging by their motoring speed they have got considerably bigger fuel tanks than we have.