A Milestone

I caught up on lots of sleep last night, because the wind stayed constant and the sea continued to settle. Locked up in the cabin at night it can be surprisingly restful if the boat is not being buffeted by the sea but is instead sailing at a steady rate, rising and falling comfortably with swells which are smoother and consistent, and it can feel sometimes as if all that's happening is the boat is gently rocking up and down - very conducive to sleep when weary. Whenever I wake - and I wake spontaneously rather than to an alarm - I get up and check progress, make adjustments to sails or Hydrovane if needed, then return to sleep. It may be an hour later if I need to wait to see how Sapphire responds to bigger changes in sails or direction, but sometimes its ten minutes to observe, change nothing and then back to sleep. Once, last night I slept continuously for 4 hours, waking at 3.30 to go back to sleep after a 5 minute check! It was lovely to have wind at about 12 knots and the boat doing 4 through a really dark night with no need to change anything, as the showers were continuing.

And today ? Well I finished off the Cous Cous I started for tea last night, had my usual muesli - well no a different pack of the stuff because the other lot was too dull - with fruit, had coffee, and through the day noodles, biscuits and cheese, dried apricots, an apple, lots of water and some lollies. I've been reading my book and having a few rests, not too much excitement today, which is quite fine as a matter of fact.

The steady but light winds have continued - 8 to 12 knots- , along with the showers which are light but yet to stop altogether and there has been no sign of the sun which is hidden behind a low grey sky. If there had been sun today it would have been just about perfect, but nothing is drying out very fast as we wait for a warm sunny day. Sapphire has been heading east, on port at an easy 4.5 to 5.5 knots with all sail out but I see as I have been writing that Sapphire is turning to the NE so the wind must be going west, as expected. I shall make adjustments shortly.

The Big News is not that there are no more leaks - there aren't - but the Big News is that this morning we passed the half way mark, and right now we have 975nm to go. Woo Hoo!

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