Fred still the man

Still trucking along very nicely, with Fred still on best behaviour!
By 12.00 today we had sailed exactly 140nm, at avr 5.8, and made good
120, taking into account the gybes, which this time worked out well!
We enjoyed about a 10deg lift during the night on the stb tack, and
when it started veering back at 6.00hr, we gybed with it. About an
hour later , it veered a further 20Degs to give us a much better
course. Sadly, this only lasted until 14.00hrs. WE intend to stay on
port tack until we cross our Rhumb line at happy hour (18.00hr), after
which we will go back onto stb and hope for a repeat picture.
Last evening the wind picked up to 19-24knots, and it was going to
be a very dark black night.. No moon, no stars..could'nt see the
horizon meeting the sea! The only patch of white was from wave crests
picked up by the tricolour. WE put 2 reefs in the main, and decided to
play with the genoa if the wind died down. It dropped a bit, but we
are still sailing with the same sail set up in winds between 14 and
27knots. Right now we have 24, and are doing 6.5 to 7.5, with a 9.8
surf a moment ago! Our last two nights on St Helena, the anchorage
was as rolly as can be, and we felt like boerewors at a braaing
competition!We are are therefor sticking to our conservative nighttime
plans of trying never to disturb the other during our precious 3 hour
break. We have settled in to our watch routines well, with myself
doing the 9-12, and 3-6, and Mary the 6-9, and 12-3.Day watches are
less rigid, but we have our main meal at lunch, and a light snack with
happy hour. This allows us to be all washed up and squared away for
the night watches.
Our present pos at 16.15utc is 14.18S,07,26W, and sea is an impossibly
beautiful blue. Cheers all!