This is our second day in the ARC. The start was fantastic with so many boats on the start line and a number of other boats that came out to say goodbye.

As the forecast showed, we are having very little wind from the northeast (less than 10 knots). We managed 130 miles on our first day and a sad 104 miles on the second. We are flying our spinnaker now, hoping it will give us an extra half-knot but we are struggling to keep our speed over four knots. The rules allow the use of our engine, but we will leave that as a last option since we do not want to get a penalty.

We are trying to reach parallel 20` north, hoping to find the trade winds there. Unfortunately the last forecast suggests we will need to go further down to 15`. Its 19:00 now, time to get the Weatherfax from Boston. I hope it brings some good news regarding the weather. Our course is 220`, which is roughly parallel to the coast of Africa. We don’t want to start heading west now since the trade winds are disturbed in the central Atlantic with even less wind.

The good thing is that waves are not too high so we are able to cook – today it was my turn, and I baked some bread and prepared pizzas for tonight. Everyone is getting settled on the boat. Leonor had a hard time initially getting seasick, but she is now ok. We organized shifts, using three hours shifts during the day and two hours at night time. Being four on board, this should allow us to get some good sleep. We spend the day reading, cooking and sending emails to friends and family.

Tomorrow we plan to start fishing, see if we can get some fresh fish for dinner. We’ll keep you posted.