What a day and night it has been - first of all we had steady fog for the last 24 hours - we can hardly see further than a couple of cables (0.2 Nm) around us. However, this did not prevent us from having a both exciting and at the same time a bit worrying encounter with 4 orca. 2 massive adults and 2 juveniles surfaced less than 1 cable ahead of us, slightly on starboard. Their sight was awe inspiring with their massive dorsal fins sticking high above the water and their big bodies half out of the water. They traveled from South to North, perpendicular to us, at a leisurely pace and I had to take evasive action to avoid them. We came even closer as they crossed our bow, swam for another minute or so at the surface and then disappeared below the water again. Awesome but at the same time we were wondering what would have happened if we hit one of them or they surfaced right next to the boat. We prefer not to find out. Apart from that exciting moment things were pretty miserabl e with the fog and very little wind. We are sailing anyway as we would not have enough fuel to use the engine all the way to Lymington. Our speed is just around 5 kn over ground which will make a June 7 arrival rather than June 6 one more likely again. The forecast is very confuse with many highs and lows as well as troughs (opposite to ridges) of low pressure both North and South of us. Difficult to say what the conditions will finally be as we get closer to the Channel. All else is good on board with plenty of food left for more days of sailing. Both of us are healthy, eating our vegetables and in good spirits. Instant coffee is running a bit low though....

All OK on board TWD - SSW TWS - 9 kn COG - 75 deg SOG - 4.5 - 5 kn Baro - 1031 weather - thick fog and drizzle ETA - June 7 a.m.

Charles