Mad Monkey - WE'VE FOUND THE TRADE WINDS!!

A few days ago, whilst undertaking our daily chores, we downloaded a GRIB file with the intention of seeing the same old picture: "Yet again we are surrounded by little wind and this high pressure really isn't helping". But this GRIB was different, at the bottom of the screen we started to see some orange colours, all arrows pointing in a westerly direction. We gathered the whole crew together and broke to them the latest findings… THE TRADE WINDS HAVE STARTED!

In desperate need to catch them we spent a day heading south, which was a tad painful for some of the crew, heading in a completely different direction to St Lucia; but it was worth it! We knew once we had hit the trade winds because wind speed jumped from ~8kts to ~18kts. We are now enjoying the fast-downwind sailing which the ARC is all about! (Besides dressing up as sea creatures and going to parties), a lot better than the upwind beating we have been doing thus far.

Fishing is also going well and I regret to inform people that my dad is now drawing with me on the boat's 'Atlantic Crossing Fishing Tournament'. On Mad Monkey we have 2 rods and a 'winner-stays-on' policy. The current standings are Josh:5 Mark:5 Rest of the Crew:0! We have caught 8 Dorada, 1 Sailfish and 1 tuna… And a few flying fish have used our decks as landing strips overnight! (Note to self: don't let dad handle the head of a sailfish because you end up being stabbed in the foot!)

Written by Josh