Position: 19deg07'.934N 028deg49'.728W (ie somewhere in the Atlantic - sorry that´s as close as I can guess)
Distance traveled: 986 Nautical miles (about 1800km)
Distance to go: 1956 Nauti miles (about alot more)

So 7 days down and cruising comfortably a little bit slower than we planned - we were aiming for about 150 nauti miles a day and have come in at about 140.8, which still isn´t bad as we have yet to get the gennaker out of the hold and have been able to achieve this with only the two stock sails in winds between 8 and 20 knots. There have been moments of brilliance where the winds pick up to 25 - 30 knots and we have hit 10 knots but these are rare, although 7-8 is now not uncommon.

The crossing is really building as everyone says:
1. We started off leaving Las Palmas in good weather (as you would) with numerous people gathered on the pontoon to see us off and motored out of the bay to find some winds - not even an acceleration zone to be seen as we rounded down the east coast of the island looking for some winds to sail with.
2. We chased winds down the coast of Africa for 2 days trying to find enough to turn at least a bit west. We decided to turn just as we met a sloop SV Irony heading for Dakar -which it looked like we were if we hadn´t turned moments before he made radio contact.
3. We set the sails Goosewing, wing to wing or whatever it is called when the main is out one way and the genoa out the other and headed east, gradually making our way down the latitudes. During this time both Karen and I were suffering abit from a chest infection (hers originally but she has finally learnt how to share) so activity is kept to a minimum - which does seem to be easy out here.
4. Each day we discuss whether to change the sail configuration or the course, (ie shake out the reef or gybe)but if we do, somehow the speed and direction we end up sailing in is generally the same so we are questioning if we do anything or just leave it alone and pout out the big sail for the run into Barbados.

The sea is calm to moderate, but nothing like what we had in Biscay so so far so good. The weather has also been kind (or the skippering good) as we have had reasonable but not strong winds, about 10 drops of rain and the squalls seem to pass on either side of the boat so far. It could be a bit warmer since we crossed 23.5Degs N (Tropic of Cancer) 2 days ago and Bernie is still rugged up in long pants and jumper.

So how do we keep busy with very little sailing activity?

As I said the first couple of days were slow with the sickness so we were just setting sails and letting Bernie learn the equipment. The we started activities. Day 3 I had my hair cut on the trampoline at 4 knots. We used my trusty clippers that weren´t so trusty after we leant them to "Olive Oil" Nick and I had to rebuild them on the run. For added excitement I also did this on the trampoline balancing tools and tiny screws over the open weave and open sea. In the end it worked out fine and I am now well groomed.
Day 4 was preparing and trialling the fishing lines while Bernie decided to be live bait. He said he liked swimming at sea and as I was about to ask him how this worked, he tied a rope around his foot and the stern cleat (thank god), stripped naked and jumped off the back of the boat! After about 10 mins of surfing at about 6 knots and pretending he was aquaman and just as I was about to get the burlee ready he was working his way back up the rope (very slowly) towards the swim ladder before finally hauling himself out on back onto the boat, showering and making himself beautiful on the fore deck. I then got to throw out my €80s of fishing tackle over the back of the boat to let it work its magic - it didn't....
Day 6 I was up early and had the tackle out again before heading back to bed about lunch time before being rudely awoken by the call "FISH!!!" Not really sure what that meant I thought I had better get up and I saw Bernie pulling in my line ( I thought that was good so it wouldn´t get in the way of the fish but too late there it was caught on the end of the line). We bought on board our very first ever fish and had to deal with it. Karen did this by going below and crying and Bernie did the dirty work while I tried to make it clean. It was a 600mm long mahi mahi or dolphin fish (not to be mistaken for the dolphin dolphin) and it provided 6 nice thick fillets which I prepared with garlic, peppers and olive oil before they melted in out mouths (all our mouths except Karen's which didn't see much of anything after we caught a fish).
Day 7 was washing day as you would imagine. Generator on, watermaker on, washing machine on and away we go.

Apart from that there is the maintenance on the boat, checking for chaff, engine checks, battery checks and recharging. After seven days there is not much that is new - but we have not yet resorted to DVD watching but that will come I am sure.

No blog about the Atlantic Crossing is complete without a discussion about food (not if the ARC is any thing to go by). We have been eating well - Bernie tho warning us he doesn´t cook has even provided a gem of fried rice and vegetables that he is very nervous about being able to repeat. As for me, I have been coming to the party with spag bog and of course the mahi mahi which to date has been the meal of the match (sorry Karen).
Anyway, that is probably enough for now - I will be back onto it in about a week with more of "Same Same - but different" as we run into the final 3rd of the Barbados trip.

Cheers

Matt & Karen