Day 15

Another day closer. It seems strange, but waking up in the middle of the Atlantic has now become the norm' and doesn't actually seem weird any more, which in itself is fairly weird. It's funny how quickly you adapt to a new situation and we now have routines and habits within the small confines of our environment which we just get on with. Everything's still hard work and the simplest jobs take an age but that just seems normal now.

The sea is constantly changing; colour, sound, wave size and direction, effect on the boat, splashiness etc. It's there all the time - you can hear it when you're in bed or washing up and the deck and cockpit are almost constantly wet from waves. This said, we only really use it to pre-wash the dishes in the evening and clip on with our safety lines at all times to avoid going into it.

The weather has been much better today and everyone reverted to their favourite warm weather clothes: marcus and mum - shorts and t-shirt, dad - underpants, me - knickers and t-shirt (like father like daughter). It was lovely to have the warm sun on your skin and abandon the salopettes and jacket for a few hours. The wind has been quite light today and we've had the full main up all day. Having decided to leave it up un-reefed overnight, we changed our mind at the last minute when weird clouds started rolling in - better safe than sorry. Tomorrow we plan to try out our down-wind rig and pole out the genoa if conditions are favourable.

The miles to go creep down and the miles done creep up. Despite a slower day yesterday we still racked up 106 miles made good and are inching our way across the chart. Only another 300 miles to go until the clocks go back again. Slowly slowly....

Mum had a birthday video from The Bradylls Friends tonight, her choir from back in Cumbria. She really enjoyed their first song (second song to follow later in the trip) and is loving all of the messages and letters that people have sent - thanks to everyone who contributed.

The fishing line has been out again today, but to no avail. There's a fish-sized hole in the fridge waiting for it now too.... no pressure dad!

We saw two birds earlier, they were black and moved like swifts over the water but were the size of cormorants. Suggestions on a postcard please...... (or in the comments section).

Think that's about all for now.

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