The crew now have to learn to slip off the top of the waves and not crash our near 40 ton surfboard down onto the sea its getting  better all the time.

250 miles or there abouts to go see you all soon

xxxxxxx

There was a scurry of activity in the engine bay today as Mark and Rory changed water pump belts and impellor on the generator all sorted in a couple of hours with some very dirty hands and faces as the boys decided it would be funny to smear each others faces boys will be boys.

We have seen some huge ships and a couple of sea birds now keep dive bombing the fishing lure which has been fishless for two days now.

Great to have the sun back, wonderful days sailing back at 45 degrees!

Longing to see our families at Portsmouth especially Ann et al.

Jedeme jak draci ! 8,5 uzlu naklon 45 stupnu cely den a bude i v noci. Dorazime uz v patek odpoledne takze vikend stravime spolu v Londyne. Katka se muze tesit na modniho poradce. Napiste mi kdy priletite do Londyna.

Napsali jste mi jen jednou ! Pozdrav vsem i Barbore a sestram !

marcus is once again ssitting on a sail smoking his pipe

Happy ship Juno roll on Friday night its going to be  a big one.

Having a really chilled out morning, Jack Johnson playing, and pete is in his element top tip for home coming present Gill ‘JACK JOHNSON’ ALBUMS CALLED ‘ON AND ON’ ALSO ‘BUSHFIRE FAIRY TALES’.

So, the crew status:

Mark chilled out

Rory chilled out

Mel asleep all snuggled up on Tom’s birthday

Kate sat in cockpit smoking

Marcus sat on sail smoking pipe

Tony snoring reading book with eyes closed and cigar in mouth

Martin sleeping and making strange squeeky noises

George studying the molecular structure of every part of the boat

Pauline showered and sleeping

Pete dancing on the helm

Marinos enthusiastic about his ocean studies

Alastair copying Marinos although not quite so full on

Mike aka DR MIKE chilling without his hat on and the sun is out.

Juno is happy boat

From Mel

Sound is like a touch from a distance. So mom just go to the beach and you will always be with me and dad. Love you

It’s drizzling with the on watch huddled down in oil skins with looks of grim determination. While those off watch are reading and cake and pizza baking.

Sailed close to
Minerva during the night but now gybed away so all alone in the vast sea again.

Ive baked a cake cos im in a good mood.

Love to friends and family Kate xx

Pete says hi to Gill hope you got home safe cant wait to see you in Portsmouth xxxx

Mike says typical bank holiday weather made sunny by message from Ann.

vysledky voleb zmenily destiny atlantic na slunno zatdfu ahooy

Sites were taken and positions plotted within 15 miles after some small
adjustments.

The call of dolphins now soumds more like oh not again. The wind is now favourable and building we have about 900 miles to go and everyone on board is reasonably happy message for czech ahoy which apparently means martin is still alive.

Pete cant wait to get back in the office and is clearly pinning for gill t a very big smiley face appears as he steers this 65 foot surf board down the atlantic swell.

Pauline is doing very well no more sea sick pills and is eating too now always a good thing.

Marinos rushes around crunching numbers and fretting about the little things around the boat we sent him forward last night to change the preventor and runner think he quite enjoyed the dark wet foredeck.

George has checked out all the navigation equipment and is quite happy that we will arrive safe. Also made a very interesting salad yesterday well he stuffed two kilos of blue cheese into a pepper – diferent.

Tony is still snoring in the forpeak in tune with Marcus who only gets up to
sit on sail and smoke his pipe.

Kate as always is Kate cake baked yesterday lovely thanks Kate.

Mike is wearing his hat much more on this leg than the last and definately
prefers the flatter down wind stuff.

Mel well what can we say about Mel she is bonkers stark raving bonkers keeps the humour on the night watches and keeps to her bunk at all other times in fact i think we may have to surgically remove the mattress from the girls back.

Rory is studying very hard things like his eyelids photos of his girlfriend
oh and stars and suns and clouds and stuff he really is a diferent person on
this cruise and is sleeping less,

Skipper well he is busy running the vessel and keeping the kettle hot and
writing the blog because no one else wants to so if ive offended anyone Im
sorry.

Nothing written in this blog is in any way Ondecks responsibility its all Rory’s as Mark is asleep so I’m pretending to be the skipper for an hour or two catch you all soon Juno

p.s piglet gets it if i dont get a message from kylie soon.

Left yesterday afternoon with lots of wind from ‘abaft the beam’ as the old boys used to say. Dolphins pretty much every half hour rain oh yes rain.

Of course it’s the North Atlantic where all the UK’s weather is made. It’s raining, the skipper has not left his comfy one piece fleece for 18 hours now (thats going to smell bad by  Portsmouth) more RightGuard on arrival.

A special message for our Czech followers V noci za kormidlem s delfiny kolem nas – parada. Zdravim vsechny.

Martin

The beef bourguignon burned whilst the dolphins were visiting but I wasn’t washing the pan. It was really superb – the highlight of the trip. Dark skies last night – superb for Star gazing and the milky way should be seen.

Has the skipper lost it – heard him say “you’re useless only catching seaweed” talking to the lure on the end of the fishing line. Sunday morning treat – real coffee made by Tony. Sun now out, good breeze. Surfing down waves 16+ knots.

Miss you Mark – Dance well Fleet Morris. Don’t work too hard Angela & Elliott. Love to my family.

Carol.

P.S. BIG HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY TO SKIPPER MARKS LITTLE GIRL ELI!!! LOTS OF

LOVE FROM DAD.

Horta is now less than 1000 miles away so we are over half way.

It’s wonderful sailing – the cockpit is full of bronzed bodies. Our helming skills improve steadily.

Rory is eating his triple decker sandwich. Mark and
his crew cheerful and enjoying the passage.

Love to families especially Anne.

Everyone is happy and it’s great to see Mike, Pete and Carol enjoying the open ocean so much. We have been really lucky with the weather and tracking well with Isis we are pretty much within half a mile. We were closer than three boat lengths an hour ago with Marinos on the helm loving the competition.

Well thats all for now other than to say that Marcus is a happy chappy too

love to all at home

The Happy Skipper

p.s. under 1300 miles to go so halfway party today yippee!

We made good progress overnight – sky full of stars – and went all out to
try and catch Isis.

The sun came up to see Mark up on deck with a subbing brush and Lysol – I joined in and was rewarded with bacon sandwiches cooked by the skipper.

It’s still hot hot hot and we seem to have just hit an area of high pressure which enables sunbathing and even a book or two has appeared.

The ocean is flat and we are down to six knots or so looking around for some
wind. We can see Isis in front but every time we almost catch her she slips ahead. Not withstanding that we hope to be first to Horta.

Everyone is cheerful and tolerating Pete and me who are first time sailors.

Falling into a routine of three hours on six off and really enjoying this adventure.

Marcus and co cooked a thai curry last night that was a triumph – tonight? who knows what culinary delights await us.

Ipod charged – much talk of family and friends and thinking of them and we all send our love especially me to Ann.

This is Mike signing off with a big smile!