24:03.09N 19:00.89W

All is well on board, at night we have settled into a routine of 2 hours on, 2 off with a hot drink and chat at switch over times and during the day we spend more time together but still try to get some sleep! The wind increased in the night to NE force 4/5 then from about 3am force 5/6, as we were sailing with full genoa , 2 reefs in main sail and mizzen, we reefed the genoa and really wanted to get rid of the main but decided to wait till day light for safety reasons so 07.30 we took it down and are now sailing happily under reefed genoa and mizzen. The main sail also gave us a lot of weather helm and the auto pilot was struggling to cope and making strange noises under our bed (where it lives) so from 2am have been hand steering which was hard work until we took the main down (Darren who hand steered something like 21 nights across the Atlantic last year is now my hero!). My arms are aching already – but then I think of the Atlantic rowers and realise what a wimp I am!We have covered 270 miles so far so are 1/3 of the way there – we did 144 in the last 24 hours, not always in quite the right direction and are a little further east than we wanted to be!

We are going to try to take a better look at the autopilot when the seas are a little calmer.

Not a lot else has happened we have not had to run the engine for power and the batteries are staying well charged which is a relief, the down side of the tow generator is that it obviously slows us down from the drag (we don't know by how much) and Steve can't fish but as we have plenty of food and fishing can be messy its not a problem and we can always bring it in to fish during the day if needed.

A turtle drifted by yesterday afternoon but apart from that and 3 seagulls we haven’t seen marine or any other life so far.