Good morning,
Our fast downwind sailing continues day and night. We wiggled our way down the Moroccan coast and now find ourselves 600nm from Portimão in Portugal.
We are now sailing past the Canary Islands. Most people assume that the islands are named after the small, colourful variety of bird. However, the Canary Islands were actually named after the large dogs which inhabited the islands back in the day. Canary came from Kanine, which means dog. Speaking of dogs. Did you hear about the agnostic, dyslexic, insomniac???? They stayed up all night wondering if there really was a dog.......
I am staying up tonight wondering if there is anyway to avoid the dreaded acceleration zones and areas of no wind around the Canary Islands. We want to keep going fast but we also don't want to break any equipment. The front runners are setting a blistering pace with little sign of slowing down. I was hoping that we would have caught up a bit more as they sailed out of the stronger winds today but sadly that was not the case. We continue to look for any passing opportunity, but for now we will focus on looking after Unicef and keeping in touch with the front pack.
Currently we are aiming for the Western Sahara. Again, against my better judgement we are heading inshore. This means fishing boats galore and an obstacle course of associated equipment. Although we have some moonlight tonight, the radar watch will be a busy one as small, unlit, wooden fishing boats are especially hard to pick out amongst the waves. We are hoping for a smoother sea state and a slight wind shift along the coast which may give us a small advantage. Well that's the theory anyway but we will see what news the position reports bring in the morning.
On board, there has been little drama or incident to report on. Just the way we like it on ocean crossings! Long may this continue. Routine and consistency are the key words for now.
Here we go!
Ian and Mike.