July 21, 2007 – 21:00hrs
– by Hugh

Just a quick note to say we’ve had an amazing run in the past 24 hours – 175 miles, our biggest yet! 36 hours ago the wind slowly started shifting from the South-West towards the South, and gradually to the South-East it built too. As we let the sails out to adjust for the shift, the speed started creeping up. As darkness fell last night we have 15 – 18 knots of wind and were making 6.5 knots of boat speed. This was under a reduce head-sail and double reefed main, we’re being conservative and not carrying a lot of sail, especially at night. No need to worry Mum.

By dawn this morning the wind had built to 20 knots and our speed had crept up to 7 – 7.5 knots. As the day carried on, the wind continued to build, with gust up to 29 knots this afternoon. Our top speed today was 10.5 knots! Whoo hoo!!! Things have calmed down a little bit, but we’re still averaging 8 knots and night has fallen again.

I’ve got to get back in the cockpit to help Bryson keep things under control. He’s now a full-fledged sailor, working the main sheet like a pro all day.