Friday 27th May 1200 hrs 39 02N 040 52W

The last 2 days have been pretty horrible and tony lost his sense of humour when the after hatch was left open "Again'. As per our strict policy of not naming or blaming individuals - it was that Pillock "Paul" ! The inevitable happened when waves soaked bedding was endured for 2 nights but is now out to dry. Beer rations were again halved, although the Skippers excuse was that we have under-estimated our consumption and its nearly all gone. 

David reported a sighting of a UFO in the night sky, with flashing lights which acted irrationally, but calling on the VHF did not help him identify the mystery vessel,we think even shorter beer rations or a padlock on the spirit cupboard are called for. 

Things got worse 2 nights ago when at 2 o’clock in the morning in racing mode a big green one with white foam cap came rolling over the bow, the watchman thought the surfer dudes had boarded us. The Genoa which should have been reefed, parted from the roller furling gear and wrapped itself in wine glass style round the forestay. Needless to say it was pitch black and total confusion reigned with 20 knots of wind causing mayhem. After 2 hours on deck in the dark, the sail flapping around like an epileptic goldfish, we finally we unwound the Genoa after doing 4 x 360 deg turns anti clockwise in big seas. Totally exhausted and soaking wet we released the twists and managed to lower the raging sail to the deck. The helmsman was having trouble standing at this time from either dizziness or from his frequent visits to the un-padlocked drinks cupboard. In the near vicinity at the time a large ship gave us a wide berth after seeing our changing light profile, red, green and white bouncing up and down, and must have thought we were a UFO. Since then we have endured the misery of life at 45 degrees close hauled on starboard tack with lumpy seas and winds of 12 to 19 knots.

Earlier today the skipper asked Paul to see if we could stop motoring and see if we could "Sail for a bit". When Tony next woke he discovered that Paul had discovered a brand new island mid Atlantic called "Abit".  Fantastic beaches, free beer and mermaids galore. We duly put out our sea anchor (to avoid disqualification from ARC Europe) and launched the dinghy.  The skipper quickly put on his fins and snorkel to pursue the beautiful aquatic maidens whilst david and paul hit the ice cold beers and enjoyed the surf.

However we felt it was not really paradise as there was only an 'Aldi' with cheap beer so we left again to continue onto Horta – hoping for a more up-market shopping experience.  Later that same day when we woke, we noticed that there were a lot more beer & wine bottles strewn about the decks than usual........

 We are running low on fuel and planning our route and sail plan carefully to avoid days of tacking. If anybody knows of a local filling station near 39 degs north and 40 degs west, we would be most grateful – a good off licence would be advantageous.  We are on the final hard slog to Horta, slow but we have a plan.....  'Diatonic Rules the Waves OK'