Today we noticed an email that was sent to us yesterday by the ARC Rally Controll. The subject line read; Starfire rudder loss. Further we could read about how an ARC boat had diverted to assist the non-ARC boat Starfire, which is believed to be a Sadler 25 with two male crew members. We then realized that we know this boat, we met them in Las Palmas. Their yacht was to small to enter the ARC but they sneaked in on almost every event anyway. We began to think about their options, the rudder was snapped in half. Since they are further south and less west than us we figure they will go to the Cape Verdes.

What would we do if it happened to us right now? I think we would try to work something out and continue, with the double headsails we are sailing very balanced so I think we could have done it. But we all hope it will not happen. So far we have been lucky, no big problems at all. We have lost one screw that holds the DuoGen tower attached to the generator, but I found another screw in my toolbox that fitted and secured it with tape. We also have some water intake that we have to monitor and bail out with regular intervals. The water is pushed into the boat through the anchor box drain (which is under the waterline nowadays), we really can't do anything about that except eating our heavy food as quick as possible. My crew also complains a bit about the Serrano leg that bangs against the mast all night long, especially since they found out that they don't like it. I'm the only one liking the taste and I know they count the days until they are allowed to through it overboard.

Except for these minor problems everything is splendid in our little world. Cantare takes the Atlantic waves with grace, although we sometimes hold our breaths when we see big evil looking waves approach she always manages to take them in a good way. Her being heavier than normal seems to increase the stability. Monitor has been steering constantly since day 2, we use the light wind vane and have come to the conclusion that Monitor steers straighter than us without getting tired or hungry, great crew member with other words. The double headsails are fantastic, we don't have to do much with them and the fact that we can reef in a few minutes makes it possible for us to sail without preventive reefing during the nights. So far we have been doing a 24-hour average of 122 nautical miles, that exceeds my expectations, we have had winds between 5 and 12 m/s. But we do roll from side to side a lot, as some people said we would when they heard about our two headsails on the same furler. Funny though, in light winds we tend to roll more, bigger waves and a strong wind keep her steady. If I wake up and the boat rolls heavily I think wind increase, but when I pop my head out in the cockpit I realize that the wind is weaker than before and the swell that is left makes us roll. I think other boats with other sailplans roll as well, maybe a little bit less. Anyway we are glad to have a simple and non chafing (haven't found any chafe so far) solution that's easy to handle when there's only one person on watch. DuoGen keeps our batteries charged, we have almost too much power and when we don't run the watermaker it is possible to switch over from economy to normal on the fridge and keep it around 0 degrees. The watermaker works as it should, we run it every second day and then we produce around 20 litres of water. We have decided to allow ourselves a fresh water shower every Sunday, especially good for long hair that starts to transform itself into natural dreads after a few days. If we wash it once a week we might not need to shave it of when we reach St. Lucia.

We have many books left to read, a few more episodes of Sex and the City to watch, lot's of food to eat, plenty of fishhooks to loose, many waves and stars to look at and lots of time for interesting conversations. But I have started to notice some restlessness among the crew. Today we start our 10^th day at the Atlantic, we are getting closer to halfway champagne, some of our friends are already halfway, but I think we will need around 3 more days. I feel no restlessness at all, but I'm the one of us that loves to read books, I like almost any book I read and get swept away in no time. If you are to fully enjoy ocean sailing I think you need to find a good way to pass time. /The Captain