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We sent Jacob up the mast twice yesterday. The first time he was armed with a “mouse” made of fishing weights. We had high hopes that this would have sufficient mass to pull the mousing line down to the bottom of the mast. Getting him to the top of the mast requires a lot of winching, especially in the heat of the day, but it isn’t as though Jacob can just sit there in a sedan chair enjoying the view.

There are two very different strategies being adopted by the fleet. Some are choosing to stay north close to the rhumb line (the shortest route to our destination) while others have headed south in the hope of finding more wind. We thought about heading south but changed our minds and so we’re now wallowing in the middle with very little wind. We really need to be able to fly either our Blue Water Runner or the gennaker to make any progress, but both of those need the spinnaker halyard and that is currently snoozing in the aft locker rather than running up through the mast as it should be.

The past 24 hours have been a bit of a rollercoaster, perfectly encompassing the highs and lows of sailing. On the plus side, yesterday was shower day, and it provided one of those moments that make this trip so memorable. I was standing (or hunched, would be more accurate) in the shower, looking out of the window at the bluest of blue seas as a shoal of flying fish skimmed past the boat.

Over the summer we have sailed Shepherd Moon from 58 degrees North to our current latitude of 16 degrees North with the single aim of putting ourselves comfortably in the tradewind belt. The winds that drove commerce for the centuries before Amazon turned up and made us think that even next day delivery is a bit tardy (OK, so there was a bit of a gap between the days of sail and Amazon but a bit of artistic licence never goes amiss).

I was on watch this morning when a large splash on the horizon caught my eye. At first I assumed it was a breaking wave, although on a calm morning with just a gentle swell that would be surprising. I kept watching in the direction of the splash and then I saw it. A large whale leapt half way out of the water and then came crashing down, making an almighty splash.