Letter from the Atlantic

Open 60 skipper Miranda Merron is thinking of changing her boat's name to Un Univers de Wildlife

13 55N 25 44W. Extremely hot during the day, quite hot at night, but just about cool enough for the chocolate to re-solidify.
We are about 1800 miles from the finish, well past the halfway mark, and on our way to the equator, presumably via the doldrums. The wind is light and shifty tonight, and not coming from the forecast direction. We cleared the Cape Verdes a few hours ago, and the next land we see should be the other side of the Atlantic.

All is well on board. Even the watermaker behaved itself yesterday, only needing to be re-primed eight times to produce a record quantity of 4 litres in about three hours. It requires a lot of patience, but then we need the water.

On the wildlife front: flying fish everywhere, suitably surreal when they fly across the cockpit in front of you, especially at night. I have yet to find one on deck fresh enough to turn into sashimi.

We have a number of squid, though how they get on deck is a mystery since we aren't taking any water over the boat, and I don't think they fly. They laminate very well to the non-skid if not found quickly.

The latest addition to the menagerie is a pair of pretty grey birds with black webbed feet that landed on the foredeck during a sail change, presumably attracted by the deck light. I put them in the cockpit to avoid squashing them, and Fred taped up the cockpit drain which is perfect bird size.

Now we have to be careful wandering around outside not to step on them, as they flap round the cockpit in the dark. Similar situation with the mainsheet track which is a great bird-squashing mechanism.

What a great race this has been so far. Still a long way to go, a lot can change in that time. At the latest position report we are 7th, rather tenuous but will see if we can hold on to it for a few hours. Time for breakfast now before the sun starts baking the boat.

Miranda