Barnaby Edwards reports on day two of the ARC aboard Makathea – a 30-year-old, 41ft Dufour Sortilege

“Well the Atlantic is proving to be a gentle giant at the moment with slight seas and a fresh breeze of 15 to 20 kts. We have continued to make good progress with another 24 hour run of 163 miles. Hopefully at this rate we may break our target of 20 days.

“Life on board is now settled and the crew are enjoying the advent calendars purchased in Las Palmas, opening a new window on each day of the crossing. Who said 24-year-olds are too old for Xmas? We still haven’t caught any tuna but a small four inch squid landed on the deck during the night.

“We still have sight of two other competitors. It makes for more interesting racing being able to see others. Before sunset we spotted seven other boats all heading in the same direction. A different direction to us. This was worrying as we have very little sophisticated nav and weather gear on board so we gybed early to follow there route further south-west.

“One last positive thing, the autopilot was fixed yesterday after the power cable was overhauled. We managed to get four hours out of the 1980s technology, we call her Candice.”