Day 11

Distance run in last 24 hours: 157 nautical miles

Distance to destination: 1163 nautical miles

At last!  After another trying day, the wind filled in during Wednesday evening and we began to make faster progress.  Flying a bright yellow spinnaker, one of the boats from the racing division had gradually overtaken us during the day, but as the wind strengthened we overhauled him during the hours of darkness and left him far astern overnight.  However, with the new dawn so the winds became lighter once again, and we seemed to be resigned to yet another day of gybing left and right seeking the breeze.  After an especially frustrating watch Jane took to her bunk demoaning what she described as the 'betrayed winds'!  However, as the easterly wind now seems established we decided to adjust our sail wardrobe, and David and I spent a complicated hour on the foredeck this morning setting up a second headsail - this was a 'first' for both of us.  We have now dropped the mainsail and are sailing downwind under twin running headsails, and if the wind remains astern (or if we catch the long anticipated but possibly non-existent trade winds) we may retain this configuration for the next thousand miles.

It has become very warm.  Sailing downwind always feels warm, as the yacht is travelling in the same direction as the breeze, reducing the apparent wind felt onboard. We are all seeking the shade during hours off watch.  There are still many flying fish in these latitudes, and another landed on deck last night.

'Caro' from the racing fleet arrived in St Lucia today, breaking the previous record for the ARC by 8 hours.  We remain quite well placed in the cruising division, and are enjoying getting the best performance we can out of Alcedo.