Reports 30 December

Two blogs in two days? What's happening? I just wanted to write and say what a difference a day makes, it is really incredible. The wind has eased, and this mornings big squalls have been replaced with a gentle eighteen to twenty knots of breeze which is giving us a broad reach in beautiful sunshine with not a cloud in site - not one! It is incredibly bright outside and the sea is a rich mid blue flecked with small amounts of white here and there, the albatross look like they have been freshly bleached and positively shine. It is like I have rediscovered colour after days of grey - the red of the mainsheet and the yellow of the little tracker beacon lashed to the back of the boat are vivid as if seen as if through new eyes. I have been on deck for the first time in as long as I can remember without oilskins and not got soaked, which seems really strange!

I had one of the last tortelinis with two pots of tomato sauce and some of the happy shopper cheddar grated on top, and a slice of Sodebo "Space Bread", which is vacuum packed in industrial thickness plastic, and miraculously springs back into shape when released. It is a hundred calories a slice so goodness knows what it has got in it! I finished up with a couple of satsumas, I have hardly any of those left now, and as the fridge (cockpit) is warming up they won't last long now. Suitably fortified I am now ready for anything.

Now we are at the half way point it is strange to begin to see how things have been used up - I am rationing kitchen rolls, and one of my fairey liquid bottles froze I think and turned to green puppy slush; and is so thick it won't slide down the bottle let alone come out of the spout! (I am dying to take it back to Tesco in Dorchester and try and get a refund!) I have used one of the big tanks of diesel, and I have one left and a full day tank with another eighty eight litres in it, so we should be fine. Most of the freeze dried main meals I like have gone too, and I am left with lots of rice dishes - I am not a good vegetarian and not that keen on rice!

The wind is forecast to ease further, and I am going to take advantage of this and do some mending! The gooseneck and the generator namely, but in the meantime I am going to enjoy the sunshine and waste some diesel on listening to the stereo much too loudly!