Jeu D' Esprit - Log 4 - Butter melts

Day 4 has been exciting so far.

The night watches experienced some increasingly bizarre VHF chat on 16 ('spooky voices', grunts, animal noises and music) as well as some interesting interpretations of navigation lights on several of the vessels we encountered. (Allround white masthead light at 6 kts - anyone?) We were tempted to hail to see if they were dragging an anchor...

We have run out of pre-cooked meals and so a very fine spaghetti bolognese was created by chef David, with Perry acting as sous chef in the galley.

The morning sun brought heat and effectively 'melted the butter' so we have gybed starboard and are heading west. Much to the childrens relief... "are we there yet?"

Enjoyed a great spinnaker run this morning in 20kts breeze. However a quartering sea meant that all were kept on their toes trimming. This was brought abruptly to an end when the tack line 'blew' and we were left with a large spinnaker shaped flag. We recovered the sail using the sheets and only sustained minor damage to the sail. This will be patched up over the next day.

Other sail repairs have been to the genoa clew where we noticed one of the tapes had worn through. Plenty of needle and thread action has ensured that we are no longer 'clewless'. Minor damage to the starboard preventer line has also been repaired and made good.

Wildlife. The 'big' story has been the sighting of many schools of flying fish - much to T&H's delight. They are eagerly waiting for the time when one lands on deck - "can we keep one as a pet?"

Currently making 8.5 kts in a lovely force 5 breeze.