3/4 distance Lizard to Sao Miguel east. May open red x parcel or card. Wind 3kts south. Tomorrow end uht milk then powder, ugh. jds

"Dear James (aka Support Team, Weather Adviser and Route Planner all unpaid and of course and neighbour boat in Millbay. )

Well done.  Thanks for the continuing weather information and encouragement. All good stuff. Happy birthday.

My spike to the North West as you put it was me just trying to  hold position.  This is a junk rigged boat!  I can make something to windward in moderate winds and calm seas.  In what I registered as Force 6 before the new  wind instrument gave up and in a very confused seas, the most I could manage was about 180 deg between tacks.  Foula slipped through as you put it because she is a Rival and like the Contessas will do well to windward, certainly compared with me.  Also, I am too overloaded with water, diesel and food, not to mention a hundredweight of tools and spares. To meet the regulations I built in a second water tank up forward but of course I filled it.  55 litres weighs as much as a small man.  I then have 25 litres in spare cans ( I have spent  long time contempating whether to dump some fresh water but have not yet been brave enough but at current rates of consumption the main 50 gallon tank would last me to Christmas and I hope that I will be in by then because we have a family wedding in August.)  The steep confused seas were the most difficult bit I think in terms of performance.  Today I moved the heavy Tinker Tramp dinghy from the forepeak into the main double bunk amidships to try to reduce the nose weight somewhat.  However, I did heave to for best part of a day to recover.  I have been knackered. Remember that I am fit.  I walk the dog over the hills at least once if not twice a day and can trot round the dale for six miles with her. However,  I had many hours sleep last night whilst the seas beat against the boat which was hove to and looking after herself, except that she keeps eating her running rigging. I feel somewhat better today and have been able to tackle further running rigging repairs in preparation for hte next expected blow from the Azores direction.  Thank you for your kind remark that the current deep depression affecting the Azores region is "unseasonal".  That of course makes me feel better.  I have managed a meal today for the first time in about five days.  Hard boiled egg and rice.  It is what we give the dog when she is ill!  I have started again to take Stugeron and have put the magic yellow bands on again.  I took them off and stopped the pills because I thought that I had got me sea legs.  I then went down worse than at the start.  A previous day I had been in my bunk thinking that this is wrong I have all the signs of exposure.  Eventually I realised that one of the many big mushroom ventilators blasts onto where I was lying and I had gone to sleep sweating after a struggle up top and had got chilled to innards.  All ventilators are now taped up inside. Fortunately I have little sense of smell and I am singlehanded.  Hot drinks weren't an answer because they weren't staying down.  Later I decided that I had a temperature and probably a chill but realised that I do not have a medical thermometer on board.  Add that to the list.

However, somewhat more happy today and some pleasant sailing albeit under a cloudy sky all day.  I tackled the remaining running rigging problems and hope that what I have bodged will keep me going for a bit longer. (Long terms solutions required and I will seek advice from the junkies in due course.) But it seems to be a long way and I am not yet half way.

All in all, as holidays go, things could be worse, indeed during the next 48 hours they may be.

Last words.  I thought that I had better pop my head up for a look out and around the horizon.  The clouds which had been total all day have cleared. The stars are out.  The white moon, well risen and with a happy face, has lighted a silver pathway on the sea and we are slipping down it close hauled at 3 knots. It doesn't quite lead direct to the Azores, but it will do for now.

Yours aye

Jonathan"