We have been in the trade winds now for two days and we are adapting our routine accordingly. At this point the days are reasonably predictable but you never know what tomorrow will bring (although the weather is fairly steady).

Night Watches: we are running a rolling watch system with one person on for two hours at a time during the hours of darkness. One night you do one watch, the next you do two watches and then back to one. It is a fair system that allows us all to rotate through the different watches and to see life at night from sunset to sunrise.

Night watches are just the most divine experience in settled conditions (for G at least). One of those things that are hard to describe but I’ll try. The boat is just sailing itself on the wind vane. The sails barely need adjusting as we are running with a locked down goose-wing set up â€�" fully prevented. We adjust the course a little if the wind changes but it does not change much. The boat is rolling slowly, surging along and leaving a wake, sometimes with phosphorescence. The first half of last night started with a clear sky and a very bright moon â€�" you could see the horizon all around. As the moon set and proper darkness set in, the night sky lit up and we had Orion directly overhead. It is like having your own private planetarium. In the morning it gets light and all around you the ocean touches the sky â€�" Fab!

We are getting used to the night sky, and what we will see when. We attended a great lecture before we left Las Palmas on the night sky and how to navigate by it.

Night routines: activities vary - sometimes reading, sometimes listening to music, sometimes lost in private thought and sometimes just looking at the sky. Every watch starts with a cuppa brewed by the person going off watch for the person coming on, and there is always a snack box in the cockpit.

Other boats: we keep a look out, but there are very few around. Last night we did not see any within AIS range although we know they are just over the horizon, which is nice.

Yesterday we had a social catch up on the VHF with Tina and Richard on Just Joia. Lovely to hear how they are doing. They are in the same general area as us.

In the morning we usually download the weather forecast to see what the next few days are looking like and to see if any course adjustment is needed. At midday we send out the blog and get the fleet position updates, from which we can see how we are doing and who is near us.

We have a walk round the boat once or twice a day to make sure all is as it should be, looking particularly for chafe. We do boat maintenance, make bread, make fresh water, read and snooze a fair bit; there’s also the big question of menu planning which can take up hours. We are hoping that fishing will recommence shortly, but that’s a fairly passive sport. We sometimes remember our exercise routines, too. Someone gave us some advice before we left â€�" get rest whenever you can â€�" sage advice.

Supper was a fine beef and ginger stir-fry - yeah!

Distance run in the last 24 hours: 141 nautical miles (wind dropping a bit at the moment so don’t expect blistering numbers tomorrow)

Cumulative distance run since ARC start: 1,251 nautical miles