Date Monday 12 March 2007
Position Lat 15 50S Long 037 00W
Miles To Norfolk, USA 4,148 nm
Distance In 24 Hours 195.9 nm
Average Speed In 24 Hours 8.16 knots

Our battering beat up the coast of Brazil, about 100 miles offshore,
continues with no sign of a veer in the wind. From the waves you can see it was easterly here quite recently, but it’s headed for us, so no great speed I am afraid. The weather files, for what they are worth, say it will veer on Tuesday, but we’ll have to wait and see. The others had easterly winds here hence their faster passages. Lady Luck needs to turn and face me, she’s had her rigid back to me for almost three weeks now and done quite enough damage.

Still nearly 700 miles to the next turning point off the easternmost corner of the country, near Recife. Probably three and a half days at present progress.

The story of these days is sun avoidance, which makes work difficult, but Saga Insurance’s cabin is like a sauna by day and takes a while to cool in the evenings, especially if, like now, we are bashing into a sea and I cannot open the sail locker hatch. The only good working time of the day is from morning twilight for about two hours, and that’s when I get the chores done.

Started running into shipping lanes yesterday, one ore carrier came within a quarter of a mile, I had to luff up for a while to let him draw ahead. I am not sure if he saw me as I could not see the bridge clearly enough to see whether it was manned. Fortunately the Active Echo picked it up before it came over the horizon so I could watch it close, bearing unchanging, for an hour.

I’d sleep in the cockpit at night but there is just too much spray to make that viable, but popping up from time to time to check the horizon is a pleasure as the breeze is so refreshing after the heat still stored in the cabin, even as late as midnight. Apart from the rugby scores, it was good to see England finish the season on a high note, I have had no home news for a couple of months which just goes to show you can live without the regular daily news programmes, to which I am as committed bas anyone when at home. Rather like a soap, you have to listen to know what happened next.

RKJ