Since my last post to the blog, we have had some "up's" and "down's" regarding the wind - unfortunately, more "down's" than "up's". For our Sunday to Monday noon to noon run we managed 160 nautical miles with the spinnaker up the entire time. We had a good wind, varying between 13 and 18 knots from the southeast. In contrast, we are under motor as I type this (Tuesday, March 10), with not a breath of wind out there and flat seas.

Due to there being no wind, we are all dying of the heat and humidity, both of which are high. However, what the exact temperature is, is anybody's guess as we do not have a thermometer on board. The interior fans are working overtime to try and create some form of air circulation to keep us cool.

At noon today we have 1077 nautical miles to Recife. Looking at the GRIB files we download each day, we are not going to have much wind for the next few days and a lot of motoring and motor-sailing is on the cards. At the rate we are having to use the motor, we are just going to arrive in Recife with enough fuel to motor into the harbour and to the Cabanga Yacht Club! Oh, are we all looking forward to our arrival there!

We have had our fishing line out since Friday with not one strike. I think it time to change the lure from a bright pink one to a more subdued colour as the local fish seem not to like the bright coloured variety.

Richard is our main cook on board and has the continuing ability to concoct brilliant meals - a lot of them cooked on the BBQ on the stern rail. This has an independent LPG cylinder, which is fortunate as we only have two smallish LPG cylinders for the galley stove, one of which has been empty for a few days now. We should still have enough gas for the remainder of the trip but can always turn to the BBQ cylinder if need be.

Today has also been a washing and fixing day. At the moment the boat looks like a Chinese Laundry with washing hanging on a temporary line in the cockpit and on the side railings. Kyle has repaired a badly installed pipe which injects water into the main water tanks from the watermaker and has also cut off the end of jammer for our roller-reefing line. This was so badly installed by the factory that if it was in the locked position, Kyle could not open his main hatch in his cabin. There are a number of other small problems on board that we will get stuck into once we arrive in Recife.

So, lets hope for some wind in the next few days - we desperately need a good breeze to help us along to our destination. If we do dot get wind, we will have to add a day or two onto our arrival time to compensate for our slow progress at the moment.

To all the readers we wish you well. Regards from Kyle, Richard and myself, John.