Milton Cleans

The gribs say wind is coming and we now have a W F5 at midnight. Too late to mess about with the main, can wait til daylight. Been motoring all day because the swell was bigger than the wind (9-11kn) and the full rig bangs & shudders in the rolls sending aftershocks through the hull. Seas from the west and north at the same time. The correct sailing strategy would be to bear away and head to Flores and gybe back down to Horta to avoid rolling as wind is dead astern. It adds miles and the reluctance stems from the unreliable wind and the risk of being becalmed even further away than when we start.

Highlight of the day cleaned up the freezer and sterilised it with Milton’s sterilising bleach. Took evasive action to miss a large fishing float & flag with a buoy! Otherwise quite a bit of rubbish in the water. Dolphins played at the bow.

Face off with a large tanker after dark and had to call him up. At 6 miles 21 minutes CPA we were still head to head before he changed course as he had said he would. Had us guessing! Gave us half a mile – pity it was dark as it was the closest we have come to seeing anything for a while.

What I thought were Portugese Man O War jellyfish may not be. It could be that they are Jacques of something or other that have twists in their sails that mean they either sail to port or starboard, so designed that they spread out across the trades. The other phenomena that I have yet to see is a gel tennis ball which then becomes completely barnacle encrusted.

DTG 290nm so two more nights

Galley; Chicken Tikka Masala, popadoms, chutneys; pancakes with lemon and sugar