29:37N 043:13W

We have enjoyed some civilised downwind sailing over the last 24 hours.  Glorious sunshine, relatively calm seas and a steady south westerly breeze – albeit a few knots lighter than we would like.  We flew the cruising chute for the first few hours and have been under our primary spinnaker since teatime yesterday.

The boat speed varies between 4 and 7 knots depending largely on the amount of rolling which tends to collapse the spinnaker just as the boat pushes through the 6 knot speed barrier.  This has kept the overall distance sailed to around 130 miles, but Punta Delgada is now just 1000 miles away!  It’s a bit early to run a sweepstake on when we will arrive, but it should be around the weekend of 4 May – we are keeping some fuel in hand to push the last 300 miles if the wind finally abandons us.

Tonight we will mark our delayed Saturday Night at Sea with some steak and a movie (assuming that the weather allows). 

Today we have found another yacht.  It’s a catamaran named Lamela, 49 foot long and currently three miles astern under engine... I guess he has more fuel than us with two hulls!  They have six crew but no downwind sails...

The boys are busy with their astro (meridian passage just passed) and all is well onboard with no defects and good morale.

Richard, Ed and Tom