Log dateThursday 22 February 2007
PositionLat 53 12S Long 061 12.6W
Miles To Norfolk, USA6,650 nm
Distance In 24 Hours223.4 nm
Average Speed In 24 Hours9.31 knots

Closing in on the Falklands and looking forward to a possible rendezvous with HMS Edinburgh this morning. I took the Le Maire Strait route between Isla Grande and Staten Island as the tides were almost favourable and I wanted to see it, as I haven’t before on either of the previous occasions I have been down here.

The sudden change in the conditions once through the Strait was remarkable. The swell disappeared and the angry black clouds of the Southern Ocean seem to have gone as well. Still got the odd squall but nothing like as nasty. There is still an absence of the density of oceanic bird life I saw in the Southern Ocean before Australia, which I cannot explain.

Spent the day resting when possible having got the mainsail cleared so I could sail SAGA INSURANCE properly, and just tidying away things after a port stop. Going nicely but I am tired after the Beagle Channel and getting through the Le Maire Strait, but the sea is much flatter, it would be nice to see the sun though. Unai has some awkward weather, but I’ll get it too, so although I’m gaining on him now, that may not last, but the high is moving NE away from me.