Over the first few days and nights we had to keep a sharp watch for shipping as we were still in the shipping lanes. On the second night we had a ship running parrelel to us, slowly converging, we altered course radically in order to clear them over their stern. During that night we were hit by a rogue wave, which brought water in the cabin and bent the railings which held the liferings. Ian's lifeharness/life jacket also deployed. It was a policy on the boat to always wear a harness when up on deck at night. Our planned tactic was to sail parrelel to the African coastline towards Valdiva banks, slowly arcing for St Helena Island, taking it to Starboard bu about 100-15NM. The intention was to pick up their local radio station which can be heard from about 250NM out. We therefore were concernd when the fleet started to make westing so early. We were concenred that to break from the fleet might be unwise. We therefore decided to start making westing early knowing that we risked getting caught in the South Atlantic High Pressure System. Approx 4 days out the wind freed, the days became warmer, the water warmer and the sea flattened out. We were in the trades. The Spinnakers were easier to fly, the boat was dried out and life set into a routine. There were plenty of flying fish and eveidence of big game fish around. The ocean was extremely clean with its beutifull Mid atlantic clear colour.