Welcome to the roller coaster ride. Since yesterday afternoon the winds were quite light blowing at a nice 15 knots from the west allowing me to get some Southerly direction in on my course. It was the annoying speed that was too light for my smaller J3 sail but also blowing too hard for my larger J1 sail so after umming and ahhing about it for well over an hour at sunset I decided to play it safe and keep the J3 sail up. I was aware that more winds were due to arrive in the night and I didn't wish to risk blowing out my J1 sail as I will likely still need this before this trip is over.

Well, I have certainly found the wind... Yesterday afternoon the winds were blowing in at 5 knots and I spent most of the day in light winds however I was aware that there was a change coming and that I needed to be prepared for 20 knots from the South. This new breeze hit just at sunset as the sky was filled with reds. The winds went from the NW to the W and then to the SW. They then proceeded to build to 25 knots in the space of 10 minutes so I madly changed my jib over from the J1 which is the large sail to the slightly smaller J3 sail. I also wasn't expecting that the winds would stay strong for too long so I decided to de-power the mainsail rather than put a reef in as I didn't want to have to shake the reef out an hourr later.

Wow, what a busy 24 hours. Yesterday afternoon after taking a closer look at the weather it seemed that I might be starting to get into some rougher conditions soon so I decided that it would be a good idea to make sure everything around the boat was in order before said weather arrived. The winds had shifted to the North again so I was sailing in a fairly flat boat with the code zero up in 10 knots of wind while I completed my chores. I ended up getting my washing soaking, re-organised the bags on the bunks so that I could collect things easier, re-packed away any tools and just did a general tidy up. I also ended up sponging out the bilges in all compartments however there was only really water in my lazarette.

Yesterday afternoon the winds shifted around to the NE allowing for me to unfurl the code zero light air sail and run with it for a bit. This only held for a few hours before the winds shifted further around and ended up blowing in from the NW. I was aiming to make a course of around 220 to get a little south in my track before the Southerly winds arrived that was due later that night.

he Action plan of #savethecheese that went on at the beginning of the trip is now complete fail so it's now #thecheeseisdead.

Well it has been quite the eventful 24 hours I must say.  Yesterday just before sunset I happened to go on deck to re-trim the boat when I noticed a sail off my stern quarter.  I squinted at it and realised that it was a wooden dow sailing boat like what a lot of island communities use. 

Onboard life has developed into a bit of a routine. At the moment I seem to not be getting to bed until around 1 or 2 am so I tend to nap until 9 or 10 in the morning. After that is becomes too hot to get any more sleep so I get up, send my position report to my amazing shore crew who keep tabs on me for my well-being.

Last night was another ripper of a sunset with the sky lit up with pinks and oranges. I was sailing in a NW breeze of 7 knots so I was able to move well and maintain a speed above 5 knots. I was also able to almost make a direct course for most of the night.

Also last night I had some more visitors. I went on deck at about 10 pm as the new winds were filling in and I needed to re-trim the sails. As I climbed out the hatch I got quite the shock as I came face to face with a large seabird that was just perched on the rail of what is now becoming the feathered inn of the high seas. Further down I could see another bird resting as well. It was a very cool seabird with a lovely deep brown colour with a white breast, yellow webbed feet and a yellow face and beak.