The seas have picked up and are a little confused as we’re dealing with two swell patterns along with a steady 20-25kts of wind. So everything on board is a little wibbly wobbly. Mexican Train has been stopped in its tracks and been replaced by simpler pastimes of reading or sleeping.

In this sea state, advance planning is needed for everything from putting your socks on and making a cuppa to needing more than one pair of hands when stacking the dishwasher! Yes, we are sailing in a new level of luxury here where a dishwasher (and many other desirable modern appliances) can be run on a daily basis as it’s supported by so much lovely solar power and lithium batteries.

There’s no chance for fishing in these seas, so we’re really grateful for a fridge full of tuna after Tuesday’s fabulous catch. Yesterday Ian, our Skipper, started the bake-off and made a delicious pumpkin and sunflower seed loaf of bread. Today, Ferg and I are cooking chocolate brownies – a 2D must-have on any offshore passage.

In other news, since leaving Cape Town and heading west to the Caribbean, we are now slowly travelling back in time. On reaching our first time zone landmark, we celebrated with an hour-back party. During ‘the-hour-that-never-was’, we drank mocktails, played music and read out the news headlines that the land crew had kindly sent us via satellite email.

Ferg has been working hard on his astro-nagivation and is ascertaining our position by measuring the angles of the heavenly bodies. Currently working on a ‘sun-run-sun’ basis, he’s taking a morning-sight, a noon-sight and an afternoon-sight of the sun, which allows for a reasonably accurate fix of our position. So far, he’s hoping he’s right on track!

Total miles sailed in 48 hours: 357

Total miles to go to St Helena: 1,216

Date: Wednesday 15 & Thursday 16 February 2023

© Two Drifters Travel