Wind is North at 17 knots, barometer is 1028mb and slowly dropping, boats speed is 10-13 knots, sails are reacher and full main.

Last night I rolled up the solent and hoisted the reacher at about 10pm. The wind had dropped and we were not going up to speed. I then hoisted the mainsail from the first reef to the full main, 260 revolutions on the pedestal winch, and my aching back from the fall I took felt every revolution. When the wind would get over 20 knots, the autopilot would have trouble keeping control, eventually I found a combination of sail trim and parameters for the pilot (there are 3 parameters each with 4 setting options) that seemed stable.

At 1130 am, the satellite telephone rang and it was the Radio Vacances folks in Paris, live radio interviews with the skippers at sea. I did it in English, but asked to do another in French to show the French my respect for their country and language. Hopefully another time…

In the afternoon I spoke the MOL FREEDOM, containership bound from Norfok, Virginia, USA to Straits of Gibraltar and beyond.

I put some non-skid tape on the top of the pedestal winch and on several grab bars that are very slippery, and hopefully that will make moving around a bit more secure.