Just 20 miles to go and all is well. In fact morale is high as we can see land. I can understand how excited those ancient mariners were when they sited a seabird or land. The wind has died a bit but according to our sat nav we should arrive about 4 PM this afternoon. If so, this is good going and puts us about a day ahead of schedule. I can tell you it will be great to stand still and have a hot shower. We make also make a dent in the champagne stash on board as well when we arrive.

We have been running a 3 hour watch system. The three watches are Dave, Emily and then James and myself. This means if you are on watch from say 9 PM till midnight, you then get 6 hours off to sleep from 12 till 6 AM. You then get up and do the 6 AM to 9 AM watch. Sleeping is difficult due to the rolling there is also condensation below due to the bilge pump problem. When we arrive the floor boards will be taken up and the boat allow to dry out a bit.

James had some excitement last night when his fishing tackle was lost. It was a ‘big bite’ that he began reeling in and then ‘twang’ half his line, the weight and the plastic worm he was using as bait disappeared as the line snapped. We will never know !

Last night I made a ‘student chilli’, but without the chilli. We had boiled rice with my special recipe. Basically you dice a courgette and an onion, then fry them off. Add a tin of chipolata sausages cut into small pieces and then a tin of baked beans. Seemed to go down well. This was followed by a banana and a bounty bar. Cooking is a real challenge when the boat is rolling as much as it is. Although the stove is gimballed you still need to have guards on the saucepans to stop them sliding off. Then serving involves two people, one to hold the bowls and the other to serve. The bowls are actually tin ‘dog bowls’ that we eat out of. If the other person wasn’t holding the bowls they would simply slip off the work top onto the floor.

It’s warm, but cloudy. We also have light rain shower. More when we arrive.

Stephen