Fast progress, and happier boat!

08:20UTC 17/08/07 30'16.8N 17'24.3W

Almost 24 hours since leaving Madeira and we have covered 145 miles, meaning that this will probably be our fastest day so far, by 1 mile! Thanks to Kevin at YachtBits in Lowestoft, we have a working plotter and radar. He'd got in touch with Raymarine who said "have you done a factory reset? Hold down button one and turn it on". It worked like a charm, the question being why the hell wasn't that in the manual?

The book I'm reading right now quotes an Inuit elder talking about how the younger men use GPS to go out on the Arctic Ice. "Those machines," he says, "they make you afraid of what you should know" and I understand this well. When you are without such a piece of kit, you know, or think you know, how to revert back to the older methods, but there is a nagging doubt and fear that really, you might not be able to do it right.

And so with the return of our precious electronics I, certainly, felt better and as the watch system began, the wind strengthened, we reefed down and enjoyed a fast night. No-one slept as well as they should, funny how a night in port disrupted rhythms, but the boat is romping along and the crew seem content - Owen is cooking a bonus breakfast with the remaining eggs and some bacon like meat we bought in Funchal. It's a bonus because the meal plan anticipated us to be out of fresh food by now so cereal,dates and seeds are being supplemented by these extras. Meals continue to be great, and the regular feature is the 'miggy bonus meal'. We are never short on quantities and as the boys finish their portions, Amanda lets it be known that some of hers is leftover and the first to shout can claim the 'miggy bonus meal'. Funnily enough, we have yet to see the 'miggy bonus white wine'

Oh, and although we haven't been mentioning the cocktail choices, it's still a regular feature of life aboard. Having had a limited selection of spirits, by the time we got to Funchal it was 'anything without gin in it please?!' but we continue to be inventive.

More later, hopefully within sight of La Palma.

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