July 15^th

We are at present sailing at a steady speed of about 7 knots heading to Bermuda hoping to arrive on the 19^th we have travelled nearly 3,000 miles since leaving Recife, the weather remains hot even though we are moving north but we are encountering some quite heavy squalls which only seem to hit our watch. On the 8 to midnight watch we got a soaking then this afternoon we got soaked again but you soon dry out in this heat also the wind can get up quite a lot and this afternoon we handed the fore and main mast Royals (the uppermost sails) only to set them again when the wind died down.

This afternoon Naomi tried out the prototype new speaking compass designed by Jim the 2^nd mate she reported that it was great, just like what she had been using up to now ie w/l Jim and just like him it lost concentration and got the giggles when it crashed but when the glitches have been ironed out it will but a huge asset to blind and partially sighted on board.

Our huge thanks goes to Carol for once again taking charge of the washing machine and doing the watches laundry we now all have nice clean clothes and even fresh bedding.

Fwd Port Jim Naomi doc John Oli Carol Kevin Val, Iddy and Tina

A message from BM Ami, Happy Birthday Mum x