After a lively evening chasing peas around the saloon (the mats stick the plates to the table but not the peas to the plate) we have then had a most exciting morning.  The wind got up at 7:00 am hitting 35 knots (our first Force 8 after steady 6 to 7 all the way) and the waves with it.  A giant sploosh soaked Haley to the skin sending her good friend Fleur skittering from her bed to go and have a good laugh at Haley’s expense.  Another huge sploosh deposited a flying fish flapping at Haley’s feet.  An enormous sploosh gave Bob’s trousers a much needed wash through.  Yet another mega sploosh deposited Elizabeth under the chart table gasping like the flying fish.  (Hooray that I have a managed to preserve the frozenness of the freezer from Bob’s continued visitations as the peas came in handy as an ankle compress). 

A bit more sail was taken in and things have settled down and we are now flying along at 7 knots beneath a handkerchief of a sail.  Our current problem is trying not to go too fast so that we time our arrival in the Cape Verdes in daylight.  We are currently scheduled to make Mindelo for 6:00am which is a tad early for the helmsman who is notorious for being allergic to mornings.

We were delighted to hear back, extremely promptly, from the boatyard regarding our request for assistance for an electrician and capacitors for the troublesome generator.  Their reply basically boils down to “No worries.  Be happy”.  Much as expected then.  We will have to see if we can sort things out when we arrive.

PS My thanks to Pop for her research that showed that there are 32 varieties of dolphin (not including the 5 river ones).