49’25.4N 004’45.9W course 075′ speed 6,1kn
Well we have made it back to Europe, into the English Channel and so, back into busy busy waters. I think we can count the amount of ships we have seen between Cape Town and the Channel on one hand.. or at least there were less then we have seen in the past 24 hours! On our port side and our starboard side we are passed by big container ships and oil tankers. There are French fishing boats, English fishing boats and sailing vessels. We have been looking forward to these busy waters for weeks now!
Our course is towards the Channel Islands, we hope to be there around noon so we can catch the last bit of tide past the islands up to Cherbourge. That means we are under a little pressure and have to keep our speed up.. and we have not done too well in the first part of the night, so we have some catching up to do! The tide is running against us with around 0,6 knots, so hopefully that will give us a lift as well! We are at the hight of Falmouth on the British side.
Just before dinner dark clouds started to appear on the horizon, after a beautiful sunny afternoon. The weather forecast said increasing winds in the evening and so I thought, well maybe this is the start of it! So we reeved down the mainsail and changed the the big jib for the second one. And for a while this was a smart idea! Gusts of around 25 knots came with rain and bad visibility. But right after that, the wind died and we turned on the engine for about 30 minutes. When the wind became stable again, there was no more then 14 knots left.. a little too little for the reeved sails. With the current still with us, we kept up a pace of around 6 knots.. but when I came on watch at 00h, the current turned and it felt so slow! In the meantime the wind has increased and we are very happy with the reef now.
We send Joel up the mast one more time, our green light had gone off again. And this time he came back with some awesome group pictures and big smile from the view up aloft.
All is well on board, Jet
