A few minutes ago, at 1730 UTC, I crossed the imaginary line between Bishop Rock and Ile d'Ouessant. This means that I am now not in the Atlantic any more, but sailing up the English Channel.

The day has not been as fast as I hoped it to be. Not only was the wind rather unstable, with unexpected strong gusts (which prevented me from flying the spinaker), but I also had a foul tide. I almost forgot, there are tides in the channel! and from 11 til 5 the tide has been against me. But now the tide is fair, for some 6 hours to come, and the Lizard is only 39 miles ahead. That should be possible! Plymouth is still some 90 miles off, so I will probably get there some time tomorrow.

Now, as the strongest gusts have passed (the wind is supposed to die out over night), I fly the jib poled out on the spinaker pole, and also have the code 0 on the leeward side, as well as a full main. Makes a nice combination, and also easy to reef down in case of gusts. And we finally go fast again, over 8 knots at the moment.

I haven't seen any Fastnet boats yet, and am curious how far they are. Have the first boats rounded the Bishop yet? We'll see.

Bart

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com