How to make tea for 2 in strong winds

• Take 2 cups and place them in the sink (this means spillage is contained)
• Add teabags (only attempting to open cupboards in a lull to avoid bruising)
• Boil kettle
• Pour water into cups (you need a lot of water as much will go directly down the sink)
• Add milk (don't be too fussy as to how much - some is good)
• If you take sugar make sure you have stolen some sachets from cafes as these are much easier to manipulate
• Hand tea to person in cockpit one cup at a time. Make sure he has kitchen roll to hand.Make sure you have kitchen roll to hand. Kitchen roll is your friend -have a huge supply.

As you can see our crossing from Portugal to Porto Santo was a bit of a rough ride with unforecast top end of force 6 gusting 7 quite often. That in itself would not have been bad but the waves were large and the underwater topography meant that they were quite confused. Sleep was not really an option and we realised that our preparations were lacking as we stuffed towels into cupboards to stop bangings and rattlings. By the end of day 3 things had calmed down but we were too tired to enjoy what could have been a reasonable end to the sail.

We arrived at Porto Santo to find that the 2 yachts we had set off with had arrived a few hours before us and were there to welcome us and take our lines as we berthed alongside one of them - the crew - Bernie and Gerda are great company. If I had a euro for every time  Bernie says, "this is such a good life", I would be a rich woman.

Porto Santo is a dramatic, volcanic island with a small town about 20 minutes walk from the marina. As we go south it gets warmer and, finally , now the sea is warm. We have been walking swimming and drinking with friends and generally having a great time, though my right arm has not yet recovered from the bruising it sustained on the journey here.

Bus trip round the island later today and 35 miles to Madeira tomorrow where we will spend a fair bit of time at anchor.