23rd July

Ian has still not made it back yet.  The wind has been very light to non-existent.  We have been out of contact , apart from Garmin messages, for 2 days but this morning he was close enough to Pico to get a mobile phone signal.  

Pico on the horizon early this morning

Over the course of the day he has done about 12 nautical miles, and what wind there is, is coming from the west so he can't even steer a direct route for home.  He says it's been extremely hot.  But he is eating well, and getting enough sleep although in these very light winds the wind vane does not work well and he has had to do a lot of hand steering to try to reach the small patches of ripples where there is a little more breeze.  When he's had enough of sitting at the tiller in the sun he lashes the helm amidships and goes for a snooze.  

Yesterday a huge tanker passed quite close to Nuts.  He saw it heading his way, was wondering if he should call on the VHF to inform that he was becalmed, when he noticed the tanker changing course to pass about 2 miles astern of him,  He has also seen a lot more dolphins and a hammerhead shark.

The weather forecast is for the wind to pick up a little early tomorrow so hopefully he will get back tomorrow.