Sat phone update Mon 2nd May

Our position is 32 23.96: 57 01.21. We continue to press north east. The weather continues to refuse to play nicely. We should have north westerly winds behind us, but are beating into the wind and swell still. Yesterday, we did have a bit of downwind sailing in the a.m. under only a small hankie of Genoa, due to high winds and sea. Today, we are under fully reefed main and a scrap of Genoa. The weather is what it is. It is colder and we are in full foul weather gear, socks, sea boots and thermals although in the day it is sometimes sunny and hot. I keep looking at pictures of sandy beaches...why did we leave? The plan is to go a little further NE and then east staying below 35N until after Friday when another low pressure system develops. Chris the weather confirms that the weather is most "unusual" for the time of year. He says this is June weather...really... and plans to send us further north than normal for May. The boat routines are good. We are still doing 3 hour overnight watches, and two hour daylight watches. It gets light pre 5 a.m. now. At around 3 a.m. a planet rises in the East. We think it is Venus. Is is massive and bright. Interestingly, very very close to it is another much smaller planet which seems to track across the sky with it. Any suggestions as to who this planet is gratefully received. Our maintenance schedule increased over the last couple of days. Yesterday, p.m. whilst I was on watch the Genoa winch (vital for bringing in the sails) started making an awful noise. When Tim came on deck we discussed it. There was potential for trouble if it broke entirely, but fixing it is equally tricky at sea as there are many little component parts, we discussed the pro's and con's. Around 6 p.m. the wind suddenly died away, and we jumped into action. We took the winch to bits, and thankfully found nothing broken. We greased it up, re-assembled and it sounds much better. Okay, confession time. We completely forgot to add winch service to our Caribbean maintenance jobs. Most annoying. I love cleaning and servicing them, and we have the spares to do them. The inside of the winch was dirty, salty, dried up and a bit seized, all avoidable. We have given ourselves a stern talking to. Hopefully the other winches will survive til the Azores. Then this morning I came on deck, and to my horror saw the wind vane pole was again moving when it should not, you may recall it fell in on us in Biscay. Today's problem is at the point where the two main tubes holding up the unit join. Inside these two poles is another stainless pole bolted through the outer poles. The bolts are fine, so the holes they go through in the inner pole must have elongated. Our hero balanced precariously on the stern, and carried out a fix of sorts. We jubilee clipped the actual join, then using massive jubilee clips flattened out as metal strips we "splinted" the two poles together. Fingers crossed it will hold. I'd like someone from Rutland to come and see it when we get back. Not to complain, but to show them the issue and find out if we can refit it differently to sort this out. Lack of fresh food is causing me to hallucinate. Images include chilled Chablis and lobster, a nice red and venison...you get the picture. Food yesterday was a bit hit and miss. After fixing the winch we had the remains of a curry as a starter, and half a ready meal each for mains. Given lunch was the last of the coleslaw, tuna and crackers you can appreciate the hankering for something yummy. Lunch at Fishers in Edinburgh or Eeusk in Oban would hit the spot. How3ver, we have plenty grub. The pigs cheeks, peas, carrots and spuds are still awaiting our attention. Saving them for week 3 I think. We are not going to be in the Azores on 11 May, it could be another 5 days (and that is if the weather is okay). The weather in week one cost us dearly, and we lost at least three days. Will keep you posted on progress. We are keeping ourselves entertained with the usual quizzes and nonsense. Out a-z quizzes of everything continue, dog breeds, colours, parts of a boat, rivers etc etc. We also do "best five"... ski runs, beaches, views, walks, meals out etc. Although it is fairly full on sailing, it is good sailing so far...character building, I think they call it. 😀 hope everyone at home is well and enjoying May. Usually a great month I think, spring springing, and a bit of heat on the garden is always lovely. Have fun folks.