We have been sailing around the edge of a small low pressure system which has parked its self to the east of the Drake passage for a few days now. This means that the barometer reading has been steady, the wind speed and direction has stayed the same, even the cloudy sky and the size and direction of the waves has remained the same. It's been getting difficult to remember which day it is and how long we've been out here and it's only two and a half days since we were eating cake in Stanley. Not that we are complaining, In that time we've averaged over 6 knots all in the right direction and hardly had to change the set of the sails. Happy days. This afternoon all that began to change. It started with a slight rise in the barometer followed by some lighter patches in the sky. Not exactly melanoma weather but a slight lightening none the less. Soon a new and larger, longer swell came in from the south west which combined with the existing south westerly waves began to make things very wet on deck with the bow ploughing straight into every fifth or sixth wave. Together with a slight increase in wind speed and it was soon apparent it was time to take in some sail. Thomas and I put a couple of rolls in the yankee optimistically hoping this would do the trick, Not so. We got Chris up to help us drop another reef in the mainsail. Thomas now in his second ever day's sailing (some guys like to learn the hard way) did admirable work at the mast, Chris ran the cock pit and muggins here dealt with halyard and reefing pennants on the low side. I flatter myself when I say I've done a bit of sailing but I have never got so wet in such a short space of time on a boat with a keel! Water up my legs, down my neck and up my arms in quick order and it wasn't even that windy. As I write some six hours later my gear is still drying by the heater (praise be for the trusty Refleks). Air temperature is a shade above two degrees and although we don't have a sea temperature thermometer fitted on the Magnus scale of warmth the sea is definitely effing bloody cold! An alarm sounded from below as soon as we had got finished and set the boat sailing again, but it was only the kitchen timer to say the lasagne was cooked. Very good it was too......