Logged by Team Makathea at 1300 on Saturday 27 November 2004

“The birthday celebrations continued in earnest on Makathea yesterday and what better way to celebrate than with our first fish of the crossing, a 5lb Dorado was successfully landed and proved to be an excellent starter baked in lemon with a bit of chilli. I think we’re still last in our fishing contest but at least we’ve not ended up empty handed, we’ve already had a few nibbles today and the boys are in confident mood of supplementing our ships stores with more fish.

“Last night was one of the least taxing we’ve spent on the boat, we set up a outdoor cinema in the cockpit as a birthday treat for Aymsley and watched a film, was a pretty surreal experience all round but was a good change, we also sunk a fair few bottles of wine. The sat phone then rang and our good friends and rivals on Yacht Seabiscuit were calling for a Friday night chat. Next Friday we are planning a big night out on the town rather than staying in again.

“We have also been in contact with another a yacht from Belgium. Having contact with other competitors really does make the journey more interesting and it is good to hear their plans on routing and gain aditional weather info.

“This morning the crew don’t appear hung over and we have busied ourselves with jobs onboard. For example the new furling line blocks have been fitted and we have re-worked the spinnaker to cause less friction and wear on the sheets.

“Finally the wind has changed slightly and I think it has been decided that we are now to bring our direction to the right heading virtualy direct to St Lucia, although the butter has not yet melted. The wind is light, we are currently making 4.5 kts under spinnaker alone. The autopilot is doing a sterling job and life onboard is good.”