It is now day....hmmm...I need to look at the log book. Yes its day 5 of our passage from the Canary islands to Cape Verde islands. The water temperature and air temperature have gone up a few degreed as we slowly get closer to the equator. Yesterday we noticed lots of flying fish getting airborne, obviously escaping some predator below. We had eaten into our fresh supplies so it was time to get serious about fishing. I had made some lures out of rubber glove fingers XL size shredded to look similar to a squid. There was the pink index finger model and a bluish model as well. Each had a few hours over the stern, but no takers. Out came an old lure that looked a bit like a flying fish, apart from a couple of nasty hooks attached. It was deployed and soon after we noticed a large shadow just under the water near the lure. It was over 2 metres long and judging by the vertical fin that broke the surface, it looked like a shark. After a minute of watching it we decided it was not the sort of fish we wanted aboard, so the lure was retrieved ASAP.

A number of other lures have been tried, but still no fish.

Two days ago we veered over towards the African coast to get more favorable winds and it paid off. We sailed with the kite up for 24 hours in 12 to 17 knot winds rarely dropping below 7 to 8 knots boatspeed. But last night the wind pressure eased off and with the confused sea we could not stop the main from crashing about, so reluctantly it was dropped and today we are motoring with the headsail poled out.

Simon had a go at making a foccacia style bread today and it turned out very well indeed. It was baked in a large pizza tray and only took about ten minutes to cook.

One more night to go before we reach the bright lights of Mindelo. A shopping list and job list are already being prepared.