Saturday 18th October

Position 21'37.5N 17'23.2W Wind 22.5 knots 22 degrees. SOG 10.5 knots. COG 219 degrees Distance covered 1,230 miles Well we have finally found the wind and have managed to get some good miles under our belt today, increasing our lead over Kazimir and hopefully narrowing the gap with the boats out front as they now start to run into lighter winds. We have had the big spinnaker up for the last three days without a break and she has served us well in up to 25.5 knots of wind, delivering boat speeds in excess of 17 knots! With the wind now beginning to build however we have replaced it with the Code 5 and are achieving nearly the same boat speeds - and we can have this sail up in much stronger winds through the night. We nearly touched the coast of Africa and came within 10 miles of Cape Barbas on the north western coast of Mauritania although sadly we couldn't see land - our last chance to see Africa before Table Mountain looms over the horizon on our approach into Cape Town. I have never before seen so many sea birds at sea as we have today. Literally thousands of them, of all different sorts, in the sky and skimming the ocean wave all around us. Wish I knew what some of them were - note to self - get a bird book before heading into the Southern Oceans. I would hate to see our first Albatross and not know what it was! I guess the presence of three enormous Russian fishing trawlers confirms the abundance of fish in this area, hence the large population of birds. We have a wonderful system on board called an Automatic Identification System (AIS) which picks up data transmitted by large ships and displays their presence, course etc on our navigation screens. We can then 'drill down' and find out how far away they are, where they are going, speed etc. One of the Russian ships by the lovely name of Admiral Starkov declared its destination as 'Moon' and plans to arrive there tomorrow! Perhaps there is a place called Moon in this neck of the woods but I somehow doubt it! Still trying to work out our routing round/through the Cape Verde Islands but they are nearly two days away... Happy days!

Jeremy & David

Friday 17th October

Position 24' 40.245 N 16'19.734W Wind 15kn 50 deg. COG 265 deg. SOG 10.2 kn Distance Covered since start 1,005 miles. We all know there is a fine line between someone being simply curious and, at least in one own mind's eye, being sinister. It was just like that this morning shortly after dawn, about 40 miles off the Western Sahara coast when we came across a fishing boat about two miles off our starboard side. Over the next hour or so, it became clear that he certainly wasn't fishing and that he was simply keeping pace with us. He gradually came closer and closer, I woke David, and at about 8am GMT we sent a message through to Pip and to the race organisers saying we were concerned for our safety. He then came within about 200 metres of our stern and stayed there for nearly an hour before slowly drifting off to our port side. Throughout this time we were sending update emails to the shore crew advising them of our position. By about 11am GMT he had moved off to about two miles away and this distance gradually increased until he was eventually out of sight. At about 2pm he reappeared on the horizon and our concerns started to grow once more although he never did approach any further. Thank God he isn't still there as night starts to fall. This is a part of the African coast quite well known for its piracy and we felt pretty vulnerable armed only with rocket propelled flares which we had pulled out ready for action. In reality of course we would simply have given them anything they wanted without a fight! We will never know whether he was simply being curious or really harboured any ill intentions. But let's just hope we don't see the likes of him again! On the subject of fishing boats, we were deeply saddened this morning to hear of the incident involving Hugo Boss (skippered by Alex Thomson, David's brother). He was just arriving in Sable d'Olonne in preparation for his single handed entry into the Vendee Globe round the word race when a French fishing vessel rammed him. Serious damage was incurred including the loss of his rig and sails overboard and a large hole in one side of the boat. With typical fighting British Spirit, Alex still hopes to be able to complete repairs in time for the race start on 9th November. At tall order for sure but with his determination and the support of his team he can surely do it. We are thinking of him and wish we were in a position to do something to help. Apart from our 'pirates' we have had a pretty quiet day although slightly frustrating as our strategy for the day depended on the wind backing more to the north as forecast and it has steadily refused to do so. Whilst we are now making good westerly progress, we still really need to get south some more towards the Cape Verde Islands. Do keep the emails coming back to Pip who is very good at forwarding them on to us and they really mean a lot to us!

Love to all.

Jeremy & David

Thursday 16th October

Position 29'02.119N 14'46.849W Wind 17knots 18deg. Course 225 deg. SOG 10.5kn. Well it is certainly shorts and tee shirt weather down here in the Canaries (if any one is looking for a holiday!)and we are cooking with gas!! 22 knots of wind and steaming along at 14-15 knots with full main and masthead kite making a track between Feurteventura and Gran Canaria. Had an interesting night trying to decide exactly how to get past the Canaries and one of the options was to track down the African coast - an unusual route but one which seems to have worked for a couple of the Volvo boats over the last 24 hours or so. We spent a lot of time looking at GRIB files (electronic wind forecast files) and satellite images showing what was actually happening in real time. Eventually we made the call to go between the islands and looking back it seems to have been the right one. A slightly longer route but more wind and more reliable. Just about south of the islands now and we need to look out for the wind shadow created by the mountains which can extend to over 100 miles to the south. From here we will track pretty much south back to the African coast before trying to head west somewhere north of the Cape Verde Islands at around 22 degrees north. You can all get your atlases out!! Seen some lovely dolphins over the last few days but not as many as we had hoped although some of them were certainly in circus training mode with the acrobatics! Seen our first flying fish coming down through the Canaries and I am assured we will get sick of them by the time the trip is over! We can expect them to land on the boat in the middle of the night and it doesn't take long in the tropics for the to start to rot! Apparently the French and the Japanese find them delicious. Not sure if it says something for the fish or the culinary tastes but what is good for them...! We'll see... More news soon.

Love to all.

Jeremy & David