On Great Sole Bank
Tue 26/06/07 1550GMT. 49 18N 11 05W. COG 085. SOG 5kts. 24hrs 145nm. To Plymouth 275nm. Since Florida 4329nm.
Sure enough, now sooner where we on the continental shelf than the first fishing trawler appeared. I guess this will be the first of quite a few in the next day or so. Fishing boats can be quite a hazard as they tend not to navigate with the ’straight line’ predictability of bigger ships. We started the day with over 4.5Km beneath us but that has reduced to less than 200m. Happily, the sea is relatively benign so the shelving has no adverse influence on the sea state.
I have chosen this milestone to open Rob and Lisa’s ‘95% of the way there’ present which I shall do this evening. I also reached into my bag of occasional presents and pulled out the last of these which turned out to be a birthday present from Elspeth - not an ‘occasional’ present after all. A sailing magazine which is just the thing to distract me as I begin counting the hours and minutes to my arrival.
I have seen glimpses of blue sky today but for the most part, as with the whole of this leg, the sky is obscured by low grey cloud. This prolonged lack of sun has produced a situation where I have been failing to replace the electricity I use from the ship’s batteries. I am trying to make up the deficit by running the engine for a longer time but it would be really helpful if the sun would come back. The wind generator is in need of new bearings and therefore of very little use.
We have the wind much more behind us which make for uneasy sailing. I find it very difficult to balance the sails on such a broad reach and the Aries therefore finds it hard to maintain a steady course. We are sailing flatter though which is just as well as I have had to bake bread today. We continue to make good progress and at times I allow myself to hope for an arrival in Plymouth on Thursday night.