Day 23

We've had an excellent sailing day today, 4.5-5 knots in exactly the right direction under genoa alone - the wind and waves have got up again and we're fast heading for St Martin. During my 8-10pm watch we expect to dip under the 600-mile mark! And we think it will feel VERY close when we're down to the 400s in a couple of days! Dad said today that it feels like "the beginning of the end". Not sure how I feel about that. We're having a great time still, but mum is really keen to get there now.

We had a very tough night. As promised, the re-start of the trades was heralded by a line of squalls with the wind from all directions and strengths, seemingly at the same time. In the space of 5-minutes on my watch we had dead calm, 20 knots, northerly, south-easterly and then westerly (?). Without our wind instruments it was pretty hairy and the main was crashing. Mum decided we should take it down - a good decision - and then we needed to take the pole down so we could use the normal genoa which meant dragging Marcus from his warm bed into the squall where he did a very good job on the halyard despite not being totally awake.

All sorted, we bowled along into the night, not necessarily in the right direction, but still heading west. Marcus was talk of the boat this morning having done an extra hour at the end of his watch so that dad could go back to bed, having been up half the night. He was definitely flavour of the month!

We've mostly hand-steered today, though Wanda is on now, which has kept fun and games to a minimum. This said, Marcus and I did have a 2 1/2 hour disco during his 2-5pm watch involving an iPod, one pair of headphones and Marcus' Casio F91W watch (a classic) which comes complete with disco lights. Only a few times did excess air-drumming lead to a near gybe.

Stores are starting to run a bit lower. We repeated the red-thai curry with the last of the sweet potatoes and red onions today and I don't think it will be long until we're on to tins. Wombat - you'll be relieved to know we still have 4.5 blocks of cheddar remaining! Snacks are still plentiful, however, with chips and "Crusty Croc" dips the current favourite. Olives with anchovies also a classic evening watch treat. We have been assured these will not run out - if they did it may cause a mutiny!

Happy birthday Abi!! x

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