We now into our 3rd day at sea. We have covered 330 nm of the 700 we need to reach Las Palmas. It is 6 AM local time and I am on watch. The rest of the Lilli Mae crew are in bed. There is no moon and so it is dark outside. I have just spotted a light from another boat on our port side but it is quite a few miles away. Apart from that sighting there are no other boats or ships around.

We have had an eventful couple of days. 

Getting out of the Straights of Gibraltar on Friday was tough going. The sea state was rough and everyone was a bit ill. We captured a few videos of the experience and this picture captures one of the moments a huge wave came over the bow. Mike lost the first of his two lost pairs of glasses when he was out on the foredeck!

So far we have been mainly under engine. We used it on Friday to get out of the Straights. However Saturday morning we were just in the process of getting our sails ready to fly and the spinnaker pole came down off the mast.

You can just about see me, Mike and Andrew through the spray hood trying to manage the pole onto the deck. We were lucky to get away with only minor damage.

Our downwind sail plan is dependent upon the pole and we will need to get this resolved in Las Palmas. So on the basis we needed to do some sailing we decided to have a go with our Parasailor. It took us a while to sort out all the lines but we persevered and it was great! (thanks Shane, you told us so!). We were flying along at 9 knots. Andrew is the drone pilot and he managed to get some fantastic video footage…….and we managed to get the done back on board….well done Andrew! Mike lost his second set of glasses whilst we were trying to hoist the parasailor!

Just after we celebrating success with the parasailor and drone footage, the fishing line spring into action. It must have been a big one ; we were sailing at 8 knots and when Pete tried to get it in the fishing line broke and it got away.

It has been a bit rolley and the team have been suffering with sea sickness. It looks as though we are going to lose the wind tomorrow and Tuesday and will have to keep motoring in order to make progress. We are estimating arriving in Las Palmas on Tuesday.

Hope all is well wherever you all are.