La Cigale - Day 10 - 28 November - Flights of fancy

Second day in the trade winds and it was clear this morning we were in the flight path with a couple of flying fish discovered on deck. I half expected to find feathers on their wings! Goggle-eyed, their mouths were shaped in a huge "O" as though with the surprise of finding themselves in such a predicament, bouncing onto our trampoline net. Poor things, we returned them to the ocean. Delighted later to see a lively school flitting alongside the boat like sea fairies.

It really does feel like we are flying now. With the gennaker out during the day we reached 8.5 knots at one point, and even at night with the jib we were cruising above six. Sitting at the helm, looking out across azure waters and a cloudless sky, citrus fruits gently swinging from the nets hung from our solar panels astern, I can just hear Dad say with relish "This is the life!"

But there's always something, isn't there?! Our battery is running at 30%, and, because the foresail is out, no light is reaching the panels past midday, while the panels at the back that are meant to be the powerhouse have never worked well, other than as a peg for a fruit basket! So, when the sun sets this evening we'll have to run the engine for a couple of hours. Given we burned through half our fuel in the first week we are keeping careful track of how much we use. Still, on the bright side our gas canister is still going, no mean feat given our (ok the British girls') two cups of tea a day habit which our Swiss skipper just doesn't get, quite frankly. It's up there with the ongoing debate over the merits of the blue washing up bucket (sacré bleu!) Even with our frugal use of a thermos, he's threatened us with a hot drinks moratorium if we get through more than one canister a week. I suspect Xavier is joking, but as long as we have enough gas left to cook the risotto tonight, we'll have lasted a full week so won't have to find out, and mutiny will be averted. For now...