I had just finished putting the last pot of water into yesterday’s dinner when I tiptoed on deck. There wasn’t much wind so I took a quiet seat on the sail stack, near Ken.

Straight-line sailing can be monotonous, even on a Volvo 70.

Hello and goodbye! That’s been the theme for the past 24 hours and it’s a good reminder that this leg is far from over.

I got complacent. I promised Rome I’d be diligent with the leftovers and I totally dropped the ball.

Things are heating up around here, literally and figuratively.

All fleet-battering, boat-breaking, upwind-slamming aside, this leg has been a lot of fun for everyone. There’s no sense coming out here and working so hard if you can’t enjoy it, too.

Yesterday might just have been my most unproductive day ever.

WE. ARE. OUTTA HERE!! And it is about time. Ever since I stepped on this bloody boat we’ve been going upwind and we are finalllly sailing low and fast.

And the heading still reads 240. Ever since we started from Alicante it feels like we’ve been heading west, with Cape Town almost 90 degrees to our left.

We’ve spent all this time talking about routines and how important it is to get into them, but the truth is they’re only good until they’re changed.