Day 2, 21st November

Position 26 16.82N 015 19.87W
Boat Time 14.22pm
Wind Speed 6.8knots Direction 245
Boat Speed 4.2knots Heading 291
Sails; Full Mainsail and No.2 jib
Weather Sunny
Miles to go 2674nm

The start yesterday was fantastic, there was a great atmosphere in Las Palmas Port and hundreds of people had turned out to wave us safely on our way.

The wind was light and we managed to get the spinnaker up only to have to take it down to gybe, put it back up again. Then change back to the No.2 jib and then to the No.4 jib and put two reefs in. It was a very active afternoon, from having no wind we had 30+knots at times, we all got a little wet in our shorts and T-shirts as we headed into the acceleration zone. By the time I came up for my 1.30am watch it was a lot calmer as we were glided along.

We had dolphins before dinner last night.

While Rob and I were on watch we spotted something glistening on the deck, I thought maybe it was a leek from our lamb stew, but when I touched it, it was far to jelly like! We got some kitchen roll and the torch and discovered it was a baby squid or octopus. Unfortunately he had been squashed and we found a few of his tentacles separate from him. This morning when I came up you could see the ink on the deck.

While Bill and I were on watch this morning we saw 7 pilot whales and a dolphin pass us by.

So much action in 24 hours makes me wonder what the rest of the trip will be like?

Day 3, 22nd November

Position 24 40.46N 016 40.22W
Boat Time 16.46pm
Wind Speed 7.8knots Direction 054
Boat Speed 5.2knots Heading 191
Sails; Full Mainsail and spinnaker
Weather Sunny
Miles to go 2586nm

Its been a very quiet day on Disco, well apart from the constant chatting on the radio, do people really need to call up there friends at 3.30am?

We sailed through the afternoon yesterday but motored into the night as the wind dropped. This morning we put the spinnaker up and have managed to keep moving all day. The sun has been shining on us all afternoon and its been incredibly pleasant, with myself, Melanie, Rob & Bill enjoying afternoon tea in the cockpit.

Today we baked fresh bread for lunch, I have set the standard which the others have to beat.

Rob & I saw dolphins in the night dancing in the phosphoresce, it was really spectacular. Today the ocean has been empty with only a few birds scattered in the sky.

Better get organised as Bill is helping in the galley tonight

Day 4, 23rd November

Position 23 20.00N 017 45.95W
Boat Time 10.45am
Wind Speed 9.4knots Direction 070
Boat Speed 6.2knots Heading 210
Sails; Full Mainsail and spinnaker
Weather Sunny
Miles to go 2517nm

We've had a lovely 24 hours on Disco. We held the spinnaker yesterday afternoon until night fall and motored through the darkness with less than 6 knots of wind. We put the spinnaker back up at 7.30am and have between 6-9 knots so are at least making progress.

We all slept very deeply last night and all of us had to be woken to start our watches which was a first for Rob and Melanie.

Bill, Rob & Melanie are currently on deck, keeping watch and soaking up the sun, its really warm today. Kate is sleeping but is due up shortly to prepare our lunch.

Its good to be moving again after our conversation yesterday lunchtime, we were averaging 3.3knots and Matt kindly pointed out that at that speed it would take 33 days!!

Another great comment came over the radio "I'm new to this sailing thing, can you give me any tips on how to go faster?" the reply was "Put your engine on!"

We have lost sight of the boats that were around us but have been talking to Eleutheria on the VHF about the weather!

Day 5, 24th November

Position 21 00.74N 018 39.04W
Boat Time 14.56pm
Wind Speed 12.9knots Direction 038
Boat Speed 7.6knots Heading 184
Sails; Full Mainsail and spinnaker
Weather Sunshine
Miles to go 2455nm

What a day. Spirits on Disco are very high. Not only did we almost manage to sail through the night but we have seen our boat speed over 7knots for the first time in days. To add to the excitement we seem to have found ourselves amongst a very large pod of whales we must have seen at least 20 with 2 of them passing down the side of us, just after we had calmed down in came the dolphins and they came in their 10s. The water was packed with wildlife. And all our cameras are filled with photos of water!

Melanie is my helper in the kitchen today and we made a fab lunch of lamb and cous cous wraps and for dinner tonight we have pork stir fry and I think we'll make a cake to celebrate a great day on the water.

Day 7, 26th November

Position 15 59.95N 020 44.49W
Boat Time 10.49am
Wind Speed 16.4knots Direction 042
Boat Speed 7.1knots Heading 209
Sails; Full Mainsail and No.2 genoa poled out
Weather Sunshine
Miles to go 2333nm

The sun has been shining on Disco for the last 2 days. We've all been thoroughly enjoying the change of weather, which has given us warmer nights, 10.7 knots of boat speed and a maximum of 31.1 knots of wind, from behind. Its fair to say we have been whizzing south and are now just to the east of the Cape Verde Islands. The weather forecast is looking better and we think we'll make the Caribbean this side of Christmas!!!

The biggest new thing for us is the flying fish, they appeared for the first time yesterday at sunrise, the water temperature has gone up 2 degrees and is now 27C. The moon is at the end of its cycle and making the nights very dark. Unfortunately this makes the flying fish blind! Melanie has been the first target and took a slap on her leg last night, which resulted in plenty of squealing at 3am this morning, Matt luckily caught the guilty suspect and threw him back to the ocean.

As the sun rose this morning, Bill and I spotted a few more on the deck. Bill kindly went to collect them and offered to cook them for Rob & I for breakfast, luckily we had already eaten!

Kate ate her first Fray Bentos pie last night and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, she'll be thrilled when they appear again on day 18.

Over and Out from the Mighty Disco.

Day 8, 27th November

Position 14 37.20N 022 53.15W
Boat Time 13.43pm
Wind Speed 9.9knots Direction 064
Boat Speed 5.2knots Heading 218
Sails; Full Mainsail and spinnaker
Weather Sunshine & more sunshine
Miles to go 2213nm

Its a scorching day on Disco today, we've all been doing our best to find the most shady spot to spend our watch.

The wind has dropped off a lot. Last night we lay off watch listening to the sails flapping, this morning we put up the spinnaker again and there is less sail flapping but it hasn't stopped completely.

Supposedly the wind will pick up again tomorrow??

Today is Sunday and we have roast pork on the menu tonight, yesterday lunchtime we had a much talked about burger and chips, it really hit the spot.

A note for Kate's mum - we have missed the tropical storm completely but have now had our second sighting of a shark, don't worry we're only towing Kate off the back in daylight hours and they only feed at sunrise and sunset.....

Day 9, 28th November

Position 13 15.80N 029 24.85W
Boat Time 8.49am
Wind Speed 10.6knots Direction 056
Boat Speed 7.0knots Heading 277
Sails; Full Mainsail and spinnaker
Weather Sunshine & more sunshine
Miles to go 2145nm

Every time I write my log we seem to get a sudden surge in wind and boatspeed. This morning the breeze has just picked up. Last night we made a brave decision to keep the kite up all night, the wind dropped to an average of 4 knots and I have been told that boat speed at one point was just over 1knot! It has been just since sunrise that it has picked up and we have a steady 10knots of breeze.

Rob and I had a beautiful morning and a cloudy sunrise, with the rays of sun beaming through the clouds, while this was going on, Mel was in the galley making bread. Matt, Kate & Bill are all off watch and sleeping on this very quiet morning.

We heard from our friends on Morning Calm yesterday, they were laughing as they have spotted us south of the Cape Verde Islands but now it is us who's laughing as yesterday was there 1st day of sunshine after days of rain!!

Bill was given a parcel from his family to open today 28th (half way), he has decided to wait until it is half way, although he did confess to have a little squeeze of it yesterday trying to guess what's inside!

And that's about it from the land of sunshine and Disco!

Day 10, 29th November

Position 12 55.70N 027 56.10W
Boat Time 20.22pm
Wind Speed 17.6knots Direction 062
Boat Speed 7.8knots Heading 262
Sails; Full Mainsail and poled out No2 genoa
Weather Warm starry night
Miles to go 1927nm

Finally we have under 2,000 miles to go, yippeeeeeeeee.

Day 10 has passed quickly, we had the spinnaker up in the daylight hours but now night has fallen we've gone back to the genoa, the wind has built steadily all day and we've made good progress.

The suntans are coming along very well.

We are very pleased to hear we hit the headlines of the ARC website for our choice of route. For us it was an easy choice. We subscribe to a weather file from Raymarine called Raytech, this weather file showed us that down south was where the trade winds were going to start, so why slump around going upwind or no wind and with cloud??? Please, we're sun lovers through and through and ask any sailor upwind or downwind?

We find it hard to believe that some boats only had their first day of sunshine now, we've had it since Day 2! Oh well, enough gloating as it might rain tomorrow - As if!

Night Night from the brown kids on Disco Inferno

Day 11, 30th November

Position 12 51.67N 031 01.84W
Boat Time 18.19pm
Wind Speed 19.1knots Direction 095
Boat Speed 8.0knots Heading 294
Sails; Full Mainsail and poled out No2 genoa
Weather Sun slowly setting on another hot day
Miles to go 1750nm

WWOOOOOOohhhooooooooo. What a day! Our best mileage for 24hours at 193 miles, Bill opened his half way present AND we caught a fish!

Hearing stories of everyone catching fish we decided it was about time we put the line over the back. Much to our delight it took all of 2 hours for the dorado to bite. Kate caught the whole event on video and the big surprise was when Matt & Rob chopped his head off they discovered another fish inside!

We've just nibbled on a little sashimi on deck and we're going to have dorado teriyaki for tea tonight. It has certainly given us an hour of amusement this afternoon.

Its been another stinking hot day out here. We've had a great breeze of 20knots all day and have been charging west at more top speeds. There is quite a swell coming down from the north which throws us sideways every so often.

Looks like we might arrive in St Lucia this side of Christmas!

Day 12, 1st December

Position 13 15.49N 034 10.46W
Boat Time 17.25pm
Wind Speed 15.5knots Direction 090
Boat Speed 7.6knots Heading 290
Sails; Full Mainsail and spinnaker
Weather Sunny with clouds
Miles to go 1563nm

Today is my birthday, yipppeeee.

Its been a nice day so far, we had English bacon sarnies for lunch in fresh bread made by Kate, it was yummy and kept us all quiet for at least 10 minutes.

We have had another incredibly hot day today but have had the odd piece of cloud cover which has brought much relief to us all.

We're all finding it a little tough that we are only half way and still have so far to go. I hope spirits will improve by dinner as we have steak, roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings, pink champagne and cake, if that doesn't please everyone I'll be surprised!

Day 13, 2nd December

Position 12 58.55N 037 58.86W
Boat Time 20.00pm
Wind Speed 17.8knots Direction 090
Boat Speed 7.9knots Heading 288
Sails; Full Mainsail and poled out no.2 genoa
Weather Starry starry night
Miles to go 1342nm

I think my dinner last night did the trick and spirits on the good ship Disco were much higher today. My dinner last night was a huge success, the crispy roast potatoes were just divine.

We had a team building exercise this morning when the autopilot decided to take a break and suddenly the spinnaker started flapping loudly as we turned up into the wind. I went for the helm, Matt went for the halyard, Kate, Rob & Mel all went to the foredeck to pull the spinnaker in and Bill held the tea! Without too many problems other than Rob nearly getting put in the snuffer we had the kite back up within 15 minutes and were once again surfing along.

We then had rain! Well a few spots for 5 minutes, the worst weather we've had since day 1!

Mel has been busy in the kitchen making carrot cake and iced it with cream cheese, it was delightful.

Note for Kate's mum. Please ask her how her skiing trip was, you'll understand when you see her panda eyes and pinkie face, we think a little too much sun today.

So after a great day I had to confess to a small problem I have discovered. We're running short on tea bags. It may not seem much of a problem but I've calculated that already we have drunk over 400 cups between 5 of us and with over a week to go things are going to get tough.

We held a meeting after dinner tonight for everyone to air their views on the situation. Rob & Matt have taken the news the worse. Bill is ok, he has 24 bags of green tea with lemon left. We have 13 bags of Mint which Kate quite likes, leaving 49 PG tips for Matt, Rob, Mel & I to share. Calculations have been made on 8 days left, giving us each 1.5 bags a day. We are now trying to work together so we can have tea at the same time and share bags, its really drastic measures and I do hope we can pull through this awful time. I'll let you know how we're getting on tomorrow after our first day of rations.

Day 14, 3rd December

Position 12 54.57N 040 25.12W
Boat Time 15.14pm
Wind Speed 17.3knots Direction 080
Boat Speed 8.4knots Heading 278
Sails; Full Mainsail and spinnaker
Weather 38C no clouds!
Miles to go 1201nm

The miles are falling away and talk is about what are you going to do first when we get to land. We had a reasonable night, the winds did turn light for a few hours and we tried to keep the banging sails to a minimum. Luckily we had Mel's carrot cake to help us through the darkness.

Bill has had a part shave today. Kate kindly lent him her wild berry leg shaving cream so he could trim his beard up around his neck. The girls now think he looks distinguished, he reckons that means old! He is currently sitting at the saloon table reading a book listening to his ipod, Will, he discovered The Darkness on there the other day!

Rob is at the opposite end of the table with his puzzle pages from the Times or Telegraph.

Kate is sleeping before she is due back on watch at 4.30pm. Mel & Matt are on watch now.

The tea buddy system worked well in the night, although I came on deck this morning to discover Rob anxiously waiting for a fellow tea buddy so he could have his morning cuppa. Good job its hot or the problem could be much worse!

Day 16, 5th December

Position 13 05.19N 046 24.26W
Boat Time 10.58pm
Wind Speed 20.5 knots Direction 080
Boat Speed 8.1knots Heading 282
Sails; Mainsail with 1 reef and poles out No2 genoa
Weather A cool morning, sunshine with clouds
Miles to go 851nm

Oh, yippee, yippee, yippee, last night we crossed the 1000 miles to go waypoint, and as much as we're having a good time, the smiles on our faces have been pretty constant. Too keep us smiling we have flown through the night. Rob and I had dolphins, our first in 7 days and Matt & Kate had a slow moving ship, also the first in 7 days.

We haven't seen any other ARC boats for about 10days! We have heard that Jus Do It have gone further south than us, obviously wanting to steal our limelight!! ha ha

So yesterday was our last Sunday at sea and we celebrated with roast duck. There was so much meat left over I think I'll make a soup with it. Today we are eating Bill's bread. Bill made his bread yesterday and it never reached a dough form and didn't quite cook all the way through so we cut it up and cooked it in slices, today I'm going to heat it again so it goes hard like crispbreads and drizzle it in balsamic vinegar and olive oil and hopefully we will have saved it??

The wind picked up after sun rise this morning and Rob & I put a reef in when the wind speed hit 27 knots. Boat speed is above average! And Mel & Rob have just spotted another yacht, there is life out there!

Day 18, 7th December

Position 12 45.39N 054 08.11W
Boat Time 17.02pm
Wind Speed 23.6 knots Direction 088
Boat Speed 8.7knots Heading 285
Sails; Mainsail with 2 reefs and poled out No2 genoa
Weather Sunny warm afternoon with clouds and odd shower
Miles to go 406nm

Today is Day 18. Yesterday Day 17 was possibly the longest day of the trip it seemed to stay day 17 forever and today seems to have passed much quicker.

Last night we had our first real squall, yesterday afternoon Bill & Kate saw the first small one bringing wind to 26knots. We had shaken the reef out but put it back in. Last night just before Midnight, Rob & Mel woke us to put in the 2nd reef as they saw 28knots 3 times in a short burst. When I arrived on deck at 4.30am, it looked like everyone had enjoyed a dry evening. Bill and I saw a brief squall and tried to duck through a gap in the next one. The 3rd one was at change over of Bill & Rob and it was Rob and I that had the downpour, it absolutely chucked it down and we had about 32knots of wind as it first passed over it lasted for some 40 minutes as well, luckily we both had a cup of tea in hand so found it a soothing experience!

The morning passed with more outbreaks of rain but none to heavy until, again, I was on watch. This time, Kate came to keep us company and sat in the rain and washed her hair while Bill and I watched on, sheltering under the spray hood!

Virtual beer o'clock is at 6pm when Bill kindly offers and gives us the drink of our choice, Carib with lime is definitely proving the favourite although I might have to go for a pina colada tonight!

Day 20, 9th November

Our arrival in Rodney Bay, St Lucia. The last 36 hours, slipped past with what became the worse weather we had seen all trip! The wind and sea built over our last night, the No.2 genoa is now living in one of the cockpit lockers, I think it is in one piece but there is now a rip down it from the head to the foot. Rob & I were on watch and we weren't even being approached by a squall when suddenly it went, the sail had been bagging anyway as the swell would rock us, but as I looked it was obvious that something was wrong. I quickly darted downstairs to wake Matt and the crew as all hands were needed on deck to get it down and back down the boat and the No.4 jib up instead, our speed barely dropped as we continued to hurry along in the darkness. When dawn came we didn't even see the sun, the sky was full of clouds and not very nice looking ones at that. It was on Matt's watch that we had winds in excess of 40knots and they took the main sail down. We were still doing 9knots with just the No.4 jib! Eventually the wind died off a little and we put the main sail back up again. We sailed the last 50 miles in 5 hours and was a great way to end the crossing.

Once moored up in Rodney Bay we sampled our first rum punch and fresh fruit. And made plans to go to the local fish night in Anse de la Reine, after crab backs, shrimp & lobster we were all incredibly tired and headed for our non moving, silent bunks!