Theodora - Day three - a relaxed start.

We have been very fortunate so far with the weather with winds in the 12 -20knot range most of the way. There have been two occasions when it has been slow going, the first being the first evening after the start and the second was yesterday morning. This has been more than compensated for by yesterday afternoon and last night when we averaged around eight knots for long periods. We are still some six hundred and fifty two nautical miles from our first waypoint! This is north west of the Cape Verde islands at the junction of 20N and 40W. The weather has been kind and we are still to experience our first Atlantic squall.

We are learning more and more about how to work the Twizzle rig. It needs around 15 knots to really start performing, at these wind speeds we get both speed and the ability to vary the wind angle by around thirty degrees. Having said that it is very sensitive to how it is set. We now know that the Twizzle block, the poles and the crews have to be level. There have been two rig inspections to date when we have dismantled the Twizzle set up to inspect for chaff with few signs of anything untoward found so far. These checks will continue daily.

We have eaten like Kings since we left Las Palmas. The girls have left us with days of fine food ready to eat and some spectacular cake. We are working our way through the fruit hammocks which has resulted in some unusual meal combinations, most notably today Julian produced a wrap consisting of cold roast chicken, paw paw and orange with a little bit of mayonnaise, a marvelously refreshing combination.

Tonight we will have our last pre cooked meal, after that we are looking forward to some freshly caught fish.