Shalan - Day 4

22:10N 022:53W

Ahoy dear readers!

What's new today since last writing? Well we continued under main and
genoa into the morning. Gaetan managed to fix the shackle pin on the
code 0 so that was back up by sunrise. Throughout the day we headed
south on 200 degrees (the closest we good get). The sea was really messy
with a fair bit of northerly swell which was throwing the boat around a
bit. The autopilot struggled to cope with it at times so we actually did
some helm work today. The wind picked up to around 22 knots and with the
swell it became a bit uncontrollale so we furled the code 0 and brought
out the genoa. We didn't want to continue directly south so tried
putting a gybe in but that brought us on a course nearer to 300 degrees.
Thankfully the wind shifted and we gybed again and have held a course of
240 degrees for the last 6 hours. The wind dropped to 17 knots and we
put the code 0 back out. We were thinking of running the spinnaker but
with swell and going into the night we thought better not. Also the ARC
weather report gave squals in this zone.

We also heard on the ARC update that SY Noah was taking on water and all
had to evacuate. We hope they're all safe and well. And that another
vessel hit a whale but they have not sustained any damage.

What else to report? We took the panels off to investigate the clunking
noise still coming from the rudder which was more noticeable in the
swell. We're quite certain its nothing to do with the rudder itself or
the bearings but actually the hydraulic ram. The rudder was also quite
heavy under helm today with the swell, so we think the cables have been
overtightened in Las Palmas. We're not going to start adjusting them now
but leave it till we get to St. Lucia.

Richie also enjoyed a good bath on the side deck today while furling the
code 0, A wave hit the beam gave him a good washing down. 10 stars for
safety, he was clipped on. 11 stars for a good laugh!

On the AIS we can see Fourth Dimension and Infragranti to the North of
us, they caught us back up a bit when we put a gybe in but hopefully
tomorrow we'll blast away under the spinny!

I also appear to be the mosquito repellant for everyone else. We're over
500 miles from land and I'm still getting bitten! Ol's had a couple on
his legs too. So I think we have a stowaway. I have fumigated our cabin
with an entire can of fly killer in an attempt to erradicate the
blighter but if i've got one more bite tomorrow I'm doing the entire
boat and bildges!

That's about all there is to report today. Sadly no pics today as nobody
had their camera out.

Oh yeah.....Fish Update:::: STILL NO BLOODY FISH!!!