From midnight this morning the winds were generally 25 knots gusting up to 35 knots so we sailed with reefs in both the Genoa by two thirds of the sail and half a mainsail. The sea conditions were also what one would call considerable but not concerning (for all you relatives). As dawn approached we encountered a large squall with variations in wind speeds and direction followed by two further smaller squalls. The result that followed was a change in wind direction from SW to NNW, some 112 degrees. The genoa is slightly damaged on the foot line and leech lines but there is no damage to the actual sail structurally. Two visits to the pointy end were required in the testing conditions. One to run a Genoa sheet (rope) around the inner stay we were playing about with the other day (schoolboy error) and the other one was for lets call it maintenance? However the upside to the strong conditions was another 200Nm logged distance covered over 24 hours. We know our log (mile meter)is slightly on the conservative side so even better. Johnny auto pilot out performed the humans for a portion of the last 24 hours so hats off to autopilots. The north Atlantic west to east crossing is not the sun engulfed crossing we had of the Canarian, St Lucian east to west crossing and our caribbean tans are fading fast. I can see you all greatly sympathising with us as I write this. Our first Whale was seen today which we think we identified as a large Pilot Whale followed by a couple of visits from dolphins. The dolphins seem to appear at or around sunset almost regularly as soon as Noodles goes to bed.
latest stats 2210 21st May 2010 Miles logged 1064. Distance remaining 745 of 1790
all the best to everybody
Keith (for the moment "The *&*!!??"), Andy ("Noodles"), Jay ("THE" "Trimmer"), Pip ("Rip Van Mum") and Johnny Autopilot.