We have not rigged a handy billy as used by John and Mandy on Gentle Breeze. It is a great solution for getting a person out of the water, but we have decided to use a halyard for now. We will need to cut the guard rail lashings to lower the height that we need to lift each other. The prospect of one of us overboard is nightmarish. There is so much to do. Stop the boat (hard if sailing downwind with headsails poled out). Chuck off the safety gear to mark the spot. Hit the MOB button etc etc. One plus point is that we have AIS fobs in our life jackets which will display the over boards position to all boats with AIS. Trick is to stay on the boat. 7th nov to Cape Verde, then leaving there on 19th Nov for Grenada. Not sure where we will be for Christmas but if things go to plan hopefully St George’s Harbour in Grenada. Now the harbour goss from here. As I said lots of massive boats arriving. We are on pontoon Z home of the “minnows” which is anything less than or around 40 feet. On port we have the french boat that got pushed around by orcas, those people went back to St Malo and will return for the ARC. The ARC goes straight to the Caribbean, whilst our ARC+ goes via Cape Verde. On starboard there is a 39 footer but nobody is on board. Next to the French boat a Norwegian boat, 31 foot with a crew of young guys. They are not part of the ARC but are going to the Caribbean where they will sell the boat and go home. Further up a Warrior 40 which is also going to the Caribbean. They had a v windy passage from Gibraltar. They are in a solid boat and remained in control, whilst lighter boats reported surfing down the front of waves. Yesterday we were joined by a Malo 40 also ARC plus. Lovely crew and more whale tales. They came down the Portuguese coast as far as Sines. When they got in there were 3 boats that had arrived before them all suffering Orca damage. One woman had seen the whale biting a bit off her rudder and chewing at it. Eek. Apparently this is the worst year ever. Knowing nothing about anything but having watched Blue Planet I have decided it must be a rogue pod with a bad influence in their midst. I have never heard of boats being attacked by the Shetland pod but maybe I am wrong about that. Later yesterday we were joined by a v glam 43 foot catamaran. Glam means the crew undertook several bikini changes during one day....minnow crew are mainly in t shirts and shorts. They look a bit out of place amongst the surf boards, hammocks and washing bedecked minnows, but I am sure they will be fun when we meet them. Down to jobs, we pumped up the dingy and polished the hull. Sails are back on. Tools have been properly cleaned and split into those we need to keep to hand, and those that are not frequently used. We need to sort out a propane solution in the Caribbean as they don’t use butane we are told. Doing a bit of work on that, but no reply to email as yet. We also measured the fuel tank and calculated fuel tank volume. We have never been sure but the answer is 36 gallons. I am a bit nervous as I had to measure as it is super awkward to get to the back and the tank slopes on every angle. Might re-measure today to double check measurements are correct. Going to pump the dingy up again today. We have a scrape in the gel coat from a pontoon encounter that I am going to touch up. Not worried about cosmetics just the hull. It is fine, very small scrape, but I have the paint so why not. Jobs list is now minor items this week. Replace some teak plugs in cockpit seats etc. Leaving a few heavier jobs til next week when Tim has had more time. We are going to test the bolt croppers on some spare bits of rigging to see if they would be any good for cutting the mast free if it falls down, if not might need to buy a cutting thing for the drill. Not sure what others use. Will do a post about lovely boats abandoned here. It is hard to believe what we see. Tinned butter going down well. Might yet try it on my hair, mask didn’t have the desired effect. Now on with the show. Still roasting high twenty degrees mainly, hard to believe we are nearing the end of Oct. leaving two weeks on Sunday, aaaargggggggh.