DAY 8 OUT OF THE UNPREDICTABLE WEATHER ZONE

DAY 8 EXITED THE UNPREDICTABLE WEATHER ZONE 1810 nautical miles to go

Overall we made good progress during the day. We ran on a beam reach and often saw speeds near 8 knots. Unfortunately at around 3am the sails started flapping and the speed dropped to under 3 knots as the wind died. The wind moved around to the stern so we have set the sails wing on wing using the whisker pole and the boom. The swell is still slightly side on and the wind is quite variable in regular drizzly squalls. I THINK MAYBE WE ENTERED NOT EXITED THE UNPREDICTABLE ZONE As a combination it is making for exteremely uncomfortable sailing. The boat is wobbling and rolling in a random manner-it is making the auto pilot work overtime. Our auto pilot is rock solid but all mechanical things have a limit. It has been worked hard for many months so we worry that it will give up-the result of this would be a very difficult 12 days of manual steering-here's hoping it lives upto its reputation. When the roll stops and the weather is stable we are making 7 knots in around 12 knots of wind

At our current rate we will just make 21 days. We hoped to do better maybe we can regain some time further down track. For now we will just focus on the mid point which will be sometime late on Wednesday.

There is hardly any moon now. At night it is an amazing feeling to sit at the edge of the cockpit and watch the surf whizz by. There is a lot phosphorescence (something like that) and the stars are truly beautiful. I think you can only get a view like this when you are 1000 miles from land.

At the end of the day after the deck check-it is an amazing feeling to stand on the back deck breath in the fresh air and look around at 360 degrees of nothing. I have heard people say they are sad when they make landfall. With 1810 miles to go I do not yet share the view but standing on the back deck and absorbing lonely isolation I can see that eventually we may succumb to the desire for solitude.

Ian went out on the deck to check all the rigging and sails this morning; after checking that there was no risk of being hit by flying fish.

Unfortunately our golden egg of fresh fruit and veg let us down today. We have tried to eat fresh food before it goes off and save the longer life fresh food until the last week. Our prize food would have been 2 watermelons. When I did a check this morning I discovered that 1 watermelon was completely soft and oozing fluid. We quickly disposed of it overboard. The remaining watermelon is still ok but on the verge of going over to the other side. I think tinned fruit and veg are looking likely for the last week.

1 Fish