Day 6

The sky brightened as the day wore on and by afternoon we had glorious sunshine again.  Stayed poled out the whole day – wind a bit less and seas fairly flat – just rolling a bit – very pleasant.  During the night the wind came and went and this morning it seems to have filled more from the south east, so we have just gybed onto starboard.  We’re still poled out with the wind coming and going.  Woke up to another greyish day and drizzle – let’s hope it clears again this afternoon.

We passed the boat which was ahead of us around 3am (Dutch not German as previously stated), and had a chat on the VHF.

Couple of flying fish this morning on deck.  The sun isn’t going down now until around 8.40pm and rising around 7am.  We’re not sure what time zone St Helena is on, assuming GMT + 0, but for the moment we’re still working on S African time of GMT +2 hours. We are nearing the Greenwich meridian so will soon be back in the western hemisphere for the first time since 2012!  Right now we are 4362nm due south of Folkestone, and about 2463nm due east of Rio De Janeiro. If only it was a simple 4000nm home – more like 10000nm!!

Had a play with the solar panels yesterday, and although not perfect, not as bad as first thought. The villain is the fridge which seems to stay on continuously. May have a play today with replacing the thermostat. These little compressors have been running now for 12 years almost non-stop, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if the problem is more fundamental.

Date and Time: 25 January 12.00

24 hours distance:  178 nm

Position:   S21:30:714 E000:49:823