As we head north the temperature has dropped and we now get T-Shirts and shorts in the day but definitely need a jacket at night. The wind followed the forecast and died leaving us with a mill pond silky sea which we motored through initially with the main up to provide stability but ultimately with no sails.

In this moment of oblivion all thoughts of marauding sharks were abandoned and the fearless team (minus today's author who had just had a shower), plunged into 6,000 metres of ocean for a refreshing swim. Despite no wind the boat was moving quite quickly meaning the swimmers had to swim to keep up.

After almost a day of motoring the wind came back and we have been flying along at 8+ knots, sometimes with, and sometimes without, spinnaker. The aforesaid was cleverly spotted by GB to have a small rip in the middle of the sail. A quick repair with spinnaker tape insured that we have been able to carry on with our politically sensitive sail, but will probably have to bring it down tonight.

Despite the dismal fish experience, we have continued to eat well but now have limited fresh or frozen, but fortunately a large quantity of eggs, which last night enabled our first soufflé at sea.

We reckon we have 8 days to go.

Thank you all so much for your comments on the blog which are much appreciated.