Day 4

(Delay in posting due to communication issue)

 72 hours in.

After a very calm day yesterday with light winds and struggling to reach 5 knots, the wind built in the night to mid 20's. We managed to broach twice before changing the spinaker to a poled foresail.
Broaching tests the nerves since the wind catches the main sail side on and risks rolling the boat. This is eased by urgently releasing the vang which pulls the boom down tight; this action dumps the wind out of the main sail ( which is also held in place by a preventer to prevent the boom swinging wildly across the cockpit).
We are now comfortably sailing downwind in 17-20 knots at 7-8 knots with some beautiful ocean swell of about 4m depth at times; we get a little bit of surfing from this but we are still quite heavy. It concentrates the mind at the helm since it can throw the stern sideways but the experience and satisfaction is very enjoyable.
The sea is glistening and a very deep blue with a few white horses but no dolphins!
All are well and happy. I have had a bit of headache : seemingly due to a mixture of lots of sun, too much (erratic?) sleep and/or some dehydration, but helming generally blows it away!
483 miles completed, 2386 to go!

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