No respite this morning after a lively night. Feels a bit like we're in the washing machine, currently on the spin cycle. Winds still in the 30 to 35 knot range with a large quartering sea. At least the wind is from the right direction and we're almost laying the course to Antigua. Too rough to go wing on wing, we're running with one reef and a heavily reefed jib with the true wind at 153 degrees. Wally the autopilot is coping, with the occasional hiccup, and looks like we have a good chance of breaking the trip record of 17.8 knots.

Some excitement very early this morning when Z passed close by another sail boat, shortly thereafter followed by a crash tack after I accidentally disengaged the autopilot while checking the radar for squalls. No damage - just a couple of tense minutes until order was re-established and our romp to Antigua was resumed.

Meanwhile Micky, our resident labrador, decided sleeping in the cockpit was a good idea. That came unstuck when he rolled off the bench and had a rude awakening as he crashed into the cockpit table. He's now bedded down in the saloon where deep acoustical sleep has been resumed.

On the food front, poor Jim is cook for the day and it's not great timing to be the galley slave. Not easy at the best of times, today would test anyone's patience. Seems he's located most of his ingredients but assembling them into any sort of a meal will be a challenge.

And following up on the Great Potato War, supplies of some key ingredients are low with slimline tonic being the next looming skirmish. The girls are circling the few remaining cans. If it comes to blows, Sarah has the reach but Lola's a tough cookie so the boys reckon the odds are pretty even.

All else well on board a rather warm Z and ETA remains Sat 18th.