Day 2

13:00 position: 26.20.48 N  19.51.80 W

Distance run over last 24 hours (13:00 to 13:00):  174 nautical miles

More wind than forecast for today, which has allowed Alcedo to make good progress.  Winds have been generally astern, so we have been running under poled-out genoa and mainsail.  David has ensured that the gybe preventer is on the boom, to avoid any inadvertent (and dangerous) gybes.  For most of Monday we were accompanied by up to half-a-dozen other yachts, between one mile and five miles distance.  These could be clearly seen by day.
We had one technical problem in the evening when voluntarily gybing to change course, which led to a broken mainsail batten.  The compromises the set of the mainsail slightly, but there is nothing that can be done to rectify this.
When I came on watch at midnight to replace Sally, we had several sets of boat lights around us.  One yacht ('Amokura') was of particular concern, as our courses were closing while the bearing remained constant – the classical formula for a maritime collision.  As both yachts were sailing ‘goosewinged’ (ie. with sails poled out) neither yacht could change course easily.  In the end, the two skippers conversed by VHF and Alcedo reduced sail slightly, allowing the other yacht to pass ahead. No-one wanted an Atlantic collision.
Later in the day we gybed to turn further southwest, and were rewarded with some marvellous sailing on a beam reach.  I was on watch from 16:00 to 18:00 and at around 17:00 we were suddenly joined by a large pod of dolphins – around 40 at a guess.  They played in the bow wave and swam beside us for 20 minutes or so, with the occasional spectacular leap from the waves.  The dolphins seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as we enjoyed watching them.  All crew came on decks for this, and I hope I captured the dolphins’ visit on camcorder.  This will be worth watching once we are at home.

I retired for a ‘power nap’ around 22:00, and failed to set my alarm properly, so was late on watch at midnight (the shame).  However I have been making it up to the crew by taking a prominent role in the washing up stakes!


Day 3

13:00 Position: 24.28.07 N 22.37.22 W

Distance run over last 24 hours (13:00 to 13:00) 165 nautical miles

Had a marvellous sunrise watch this morning.  Two yachts in the distance one of which, we think, is not an ARC boat. Was on watch during an impressive Atlantic squall, with heavy rain, but this quickly cleared and the oilskins had kept me warm and dry.  The weather is mostly bright and sunny (24C) but there are lots of squalls around.  This evening's sunset trumped even this morning's sunrise.

Jane and Sally had an incident overnight, when they discovered that the outhaul from the mainsail had broken, and was flapping around.  With the skipper’s help these two managed to resolve the problem, although this involved David clambering onto the boom during a squall.  Alcedo is currently reaching in bright sunshine over the bluest of seas – ideal sailing conditions.  Although we are not a competitive boat (at least not officially) it would be good to know where the other ARC yachts are.  We know we have passed several yachts, and that we are behind the racers who sped away over the first evening, and naturally the catamarans too.  We are wondering whether we have been slow or fast by comparison with other yachts in the cruising division.
The skipper and crew have been discussing our route for the next few days.  Do we continue towards the west, or drop down to the south to catch the trade winds?  Will keep you updated.