Forecast is for 25 knots (so expect 40 knots!) and 2.2m seas (so expect maximum waves of 4m) from late Wednesday, so we’re preparing for 48 hours of challenging conditions running before a breaking, following sea. We’ve washed, dried and bagged the staysail and replaced the big laminate Genoa on the furler with the smaller and more robust No. 3 Dacron headsail. Tomorrow we’ll strike the main, bag it and secure the halyards. We will ride this one with only the headsail. We will move the spare anchors and rolled-up Zodiac to the mid-ships cabin, clearing the cockpit lazarettes from heavy items (about 100kg) and lowering the centre of gravity. Diesel will be transferred from the jerry cans (on deck) to the auxiliary tank, shifting another 160kg low down and aft.

Position 14° 28.283′ N 53° 29.681′ E
COG 272T
SOG 6.2kt

Motored all night and looks like we will be doing so for at least another 48 hours. Very grateful for our diesel reserves and the fair winds we’ve had so far.

Position 14° 21.933′ N 54° 16.306′ E
COG 279T
SOG 5.6kt
Log 9,150 nm
Engine 158.3 h

For a brief hour we had a perfect alignment of beam wind, calm sea and current. Quickly shaking out the three reefs in the main we had put in to stop the flogging sail, we sat in the moonlight, whispering along at 6 to 7 knots on a glassy sea with barely a breath of wind.

Position 14° 19.246′ N 55° 28.801′ E
COG 267T
SOG 6.6kt