Into the trades on day 3

Having clocked up over 310 miles in the first 48hrs, we were well
placed to reach the Trade wind zones within our four day window. In
fact, as I write this we are in pos 31.16S, and 12.25E,at 15.00hrs,
and theoretically still short of the official Trades zone which
commences at 30S, but the water is a beautiful azure blue ,25.7degs,
the wind steady between 16 to 25knots, and we are skipping along . We
have averaged 6.5knots since we left, and are sailing conservatively,
with three reefs in the main, the small staysail,and some genoa. The
solar panels and Air X windgen are coping very well with the
autopilot, freezer etc at this stage, and we only had to use the
genset for an hour because of all the cloud cover yesterday. Having
read the log of "Ithaka", and Petr Musiks "Shoestring", we are
thrilled to realise that our Shearwater is right up there when it
comes to passagemaking ; fast,dry, steady,and as comfortable as one
could ever be in a 40ft yacht in Cape seas;and that despite all the
extra weight packed in for a cruising life! When we left Gerfried
Nebe, who knows a thing or two about Shearwaters, he said he wished us
18knots all the way! Its taken a day or two, but now that we've got
that, we see why! Thanks Gerfried!
Lost my first fish on day one! Just as well, as the
freezer is still full, and we were doing 9knots at the time, and in no
position to slow down! Will try again as we pass Valdiva banks. More
later!