Day 12 to 35:17N 54:28W Wind F4-5SW 152nm

If it wasn't for the meals and minor fluctuations in the wind it would sometimes be hard to tell one day from another out here. You'd certainly get bored quickly if you tried playing I Spy. However, on my 3 to 6am watch I did see a freighter and like all the traffic you meet when you are really far from anywhere it seemed to be heading right for us. With the AIS not working we don't know anything about the ships we see or their intentions so there can be a few tense moments until you are quite sure it is going to pass well clear, which in this case it did with half a mile to spare.

Jim decided to do brunch today and made biscuits from scratch along with scrambled eggs, bacon and toast - made it feel like Sunday.

Louise and Justin are now sharing my French course and Justin is supplementing this with the lonely planet French phrase book. This gives something of a quirky view on French life. In the section on love the following phrases are the only ones listed: "I love you", "Do you love me?", "Do you want to go out with me?", "Let's move in together", "Will you marry me?" Immediately below are listed some phrases for "problems" they are: "Are you seeing someone else?", "You're just using me for sex", "I don't think we'll work it out", "I never want to see you again". It's like life in 10 phrases or less. The section on sex is even stranger and includes such phrases as "Oh, Yeah", "Easy Tiger", "That was weird" and "Not if you were the last person on Earth". Finally, in the section on occupations there are instructions on only three, you can say "I'm a: Businessperson, Chef or Drag Queen (travelo) presumably you pick the closest.

We had Steak Hache (burgers) with pepper sauce, potatoes and corn for dinner. Still no one is touching the wine or beer but the day after tomorrow we will be half way through this leg of the journey and the day after that half way through the whole trip - sounds like an excuse for a celebration!

We had a really great run until about 7pm when the wind veered and dropped. We are now goose winged at just over 5knots and heading a bit to the North of our direct course. The sea has also dropped so we have ideal conditions for a good sleep. I hope to pick up more wind by morning.