Date 21 March at 0047
Position S 41° 34’/E 56° 33′

There is a complete change in conditions for today. Almost as soon as I sent yesterday’s daily log the breeze began to fill in and within four hours I was back to three reefs in the mainsail and then after a further two hours both headsails were furled a certain amount.

Although the wind picked up quickly, the sea state took a little longer so the day was fast, windy but pleasant sailing. As the night came the sea state had picked up dramatically and we returned to the familiar pounding and crashing off waves that were becoming a memory. There was a thick cloud cover all day and that made the night extremely dark. There was no sign of any moon or stars to illuminate the way. The good news to this approaching depression was that it allowed us to make a westerly course whilst sailing on the breeze. We were hoping for the wind direction to allow us some reaching conditions but they never materialised. So again, I returned to living at a 30-degree angle. Moving below decks was back to acrobatic feats and making food or drinks was an art in itself.

I have another 12 hours before the cold front associated with this depression moves across and we can then sail north-west on the other tack away from the strong winds. Hopefully we will be able to return to those warmer temperatures that I had a chance to experience briefly yesterday.

As the conditions have been deteriorating during the day, there has been time to achieve little else. Once the sails were reduced it was back to trying to hold on for the ride again.

Dee and Aviva