Well the journey so far has certainly had its ups and downs. The chaos of nearly 200 boats trying to leave the marina in Las Palmas in one go was looking to much of a squeeze, especially with a metallic gold paint job to protect, so being British we did the British thing and had a cup of tea and let the chaos unfold! Eventually about half an hour after the start wecrossed the line with the weather looking fairly wet and gloomy we set about making up for lost time. By the time we rounded the bottom of Gran Canaria we were back where we would've hoped to be after some fairly exhilarating sailing at speeds in excess of 15kts at times.The first night was uncomfortable at best with winds gusting up to 40kts at times we were playing with reefs trying to get the boat balanced, on the upside we made some very reasonable mileage. Since then we have been blessed with some cracking sailing in winds of 20-30kts and during our first 48hrs we have managed to clock up over 400nm almost down the rhumb line. As ever the food on board Proteus has been cracking and Bryony has kept everyones spirits high with a constant stream of edible delights. Needless to say the journey hasn't been without its problems, during our second day at sea one of our main sail battens decided to push through the leech of the sail,which meant a fairly precarious trip up into the boom to assess the situation, after much head scratching about how to effect repairs it was decided that with the forecast we have for the next few days it was best removed and dealt with in calmer seas. Next up was a dead generator which ona yacht with the power demands such as Proteus was a fairly major issue,luckily after much hanging upside down in bilges looking for issues, a tiny wire at the back of the fuel pressure regulator was found to have snapped.Luckily a we had the necessary spare part and after an uncomfortable hour Oli had swapped old for new and the generator was purring again. All in all Proteus and her crew are happy and spirits are high, especially when you look up at the log and we're surging down another wave at 12-13kts.We just hope everyone else is enjoying the same great sailing we are!Proteus and crew - out.