Well, life don't get much better than this; the promised South Easterly breeze one point abaft the beam, flat sea, 'Viente' effortlessly slipping along on course at 7.5 knots; grandson Max on the helm, tweaking and coaxing our beautiful yacht to 8 knots and more.

We are grateful for a fast ship; have been watching a nasty summer LOW tracking North into our sea area and deepening 983mb by Sunday, packing 38 knot gales; thankfully we have maintained good boat speed to put us to the North East of the bugger, so we should carry these moderate southeasterlies all the way to Glendore on the south coast of Ireland. With present speed, we will be shortening sail tonight to arrive at first light Sunday morning.

This has been a grand voyage; the crew have gained some worthwhile ocean sailing experience; Max has certainly earned his Duke of Edinburgh 'Gold' points - character making indeed!

Crew member Shay's photo shows the elegant RMS 'Queen Mary 2' as she passed us yesterday making 26.3 knots, on passage for New York; I'm rather hoping to persuade my wife that we are on that ship for my next Transatlantic!

24HR Run: 165nm