Tuesday September 6th 2016 Second day at sea.

On Sunday night the crew from the three boats, Luc, our amazing fixer and three other fellows who have helped us here, all met for a farewell dinner at a creperie in St Gilles, a pretty little fishing town about 25 minutes down the coast. I rode with Michel, a French Frenchman who retired here after a working life as a machine shop professor. He has a fully equipped shop at his house in the hills behind the port and had made some parts for another boat. He was very cheerful and chatty stretching my execrable school boy French well past its limits. He is 69, and about to move all his gear to Madagascar to start a new life and a new family with a new wife who is from there. He is very excited to be starting over and wants to establish a mechanics school. It was a fun night. Crepes have become like pizzas in that any goes. They're are proud of their local hard cider offerings, four or five varieties each offered in dry medium and sweet. Their idea of dry is my idea of sweet, Woodpecker with extra sugar, but the tastes are delicate and lovely.

Monday morning saw us up early, at sunrise, getting ready to leave. An hour later we were re-watered, de-trashed, untied and on our way into a gorgeous sunny morning. The ocean swells showed up quickly, the wind blew around 10 knots and we were rolling along at an amazing 8 knots. For a few miles out the swells which curved around both sides of the island got back together making for a lumpy uncomfortable sea. The wind would rise to 20 odd knots and fall back to 10. It took a while get clear of the island's influence on the wind and waves. By dark things were settled and we were on our way.

As I write this on Tuesday morning it is overcast. We have around 15 knots winds, shortened main, a screecher up front and 6 knots speed. We are not inclined to trim things strictly given the winds variability; this set up will allow the wind to change direction and come and go without having to change things.

The screecher sail is peculiar to catamarans, though it looks like a Genoa to me. Given a cat's beam it can be sheeted well out without needing whisker poles and the like. The wind is currently on our quarter. If it comes further aft and looks steady we will swop it for the spinnaker,  which is also flown without a pole. Cat's are weird.

Onward.