On the up..- 30 April

Well, what a turn up for the books. We've blasted up the rankings and now lying 5th or 6th, depending on where Yorkshire are when they pop out of stealth mode. We are now lifted and up for the best helming and trimming to keep us mid fleet for the finish. Although there is great concentration when doing the jobs, in between your turn you can relax and it then feels like a cruise.

We spotted more dolphins and turtles yesterday and we were entertained by a shoal of tuna leaping out of the water. They were presumably being pursued by a predator, but they were too far away to see that.

I think we're all getting more adjusted to the heat and people are gradually getting more relaxed out on deck in swim wear. I had a deck shower in the afternoon, which was great. This is just having someone pour two buckets of sea water over you, while you stand in the snake pit. Although the water is warm (about 30 degrees C), the evaporation is then very cooling.

I've been on the foredeck, mainly doing bow, for several evolutions now and really enjoy it. I suspect however that I'm really a fair weather fore-decker. Time will tell on that in Leg 8, when we cross the Atlantic.

Life in the ghetto is sauna-like. In the afternoon, if the other watch is working on the foredeck and have to close the hatch, the temperature below rises. It would be bliss to sleep on deck now, but of course we can't do that while we're racing.

My new “knot of the day” yesterday was a truckers hitch, which is used to secure the halyards at the mast, if you have no clutch. James was my teacher and Ben had said he couldn't have any cake at 5 o'clock unless I tied it correctly. However it then evolved that three of us had an exam with Ben taking a video of us. Fortunately we all passed!

Night-time continues to be bliss as the temperature is then comfortable on deck and we enjoy the starry skies.

Jeff, who if a superb photographer, got and an amazing sunset photo last night. The sun has a wonderful orange glow, which I gather is something to do with volcanic ash in the atmosphere, from a volcano in Mexico. Suffice to say that I haven't really worried about taking photos as I'll just get Jeff's at the end. He has some brilliant action packed ones of the race start day, all achieved while he was jumping about the deck like a cat.