My, how the time passes

16:00UTC 10/8/07 40'42.8N 12'50.4W

We are well and truly in the tradewinds now. A steady northerly wind speeds us south towards the Canaries. We have hoisted a classic downwind rig - two headsails and no main - and haven't had to adjust sail since we put them up 24 hours ago. Before that, the mainsail and it's boom were a constant concern, flapping, banging and sometimes held back by only a single piece of rope, called a preventer - and they have been known to snap.

I've relaxed quite a bit since we left Biscay - it was a real obstacle in our path. Whilst the others spend time reading, sleeping and doing their chores, I have hardly read my book and am only sleeping OK because I'm not on night watches. That's partly just how I am, never resting, but it's more so here because there is a constant, if often subconscious, knowledge that I and our boat are responsible for the lives of all of us. We have fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters on board and the first concern is to make sure they stay on board.

The other night, I'd gone to my cabin but wasn't sleeping. Something was nagging me, but I didn't really know what. The darkness was filled with those unpleasant imaginings and thoughts that often fill the sleepless mind at night. I decided to go for a walk, but the options are limited, so I came into the saloon, checked the chart, looked at the instruments, felt the roll and motion of the boat and it started to become clear. 'I think we might need to reef' I said to Ian. 'I think we're ok for now' he replied, but I'd at last given a name to my fear. 'I'm going on deck to sniff the air', I told him and, putting on my lifejacket and harness, stood on on deck for a few minutes feeling the boat power though the water and watching the moonlight sparkle on the foaming wake. The old phase came back to me - if you're thinking about reefing, you should already have done it. It was the change of the watch, so Guy was coming on deck anyway. 'Lets do it, Ian. One reef in the main and a roll in the jib.' Ten minutes later the boat was more upright, less stretched and still going just as fast. I went back to bed and slept very well.

Today, with our amazing new 'no maintenance' sail plan, we've had little to do. No ships within 10 miles on the radar for over a day. So we got up about 9, had breakfast at 10, played cards, had lunch at 1, now doing our tasks, reading, and thinking about dinner at 6pm. It's a hard life.

There's a decent little card school on board, Hearts being the relatively un-stretching game of choice, although Uno has also been seen. We have concluded that some games are less effective in this slightly unstable house of ours. Jenga is over a bit quickly, and pick-up-sticks leaves you chasing the little devils all across the floor. Ker-plunk might work but the darn marbles get loose and roll everywhere. Battleships seems to be tempting fate a little too much. Suggestions in the comments section please.....

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