THE FINAL MILES ROLL BY
Aquila
Alan and Sarah Bennett
Sat 21 Jun 2008 12:08
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48:01.70N W12:24.60
Noon-noon run: 166 miles
Our faithful wind of yesterday is still with us:
WSW 4 - 5, which most of the time has given us 7kts throught the water. So
progress is very, very good. And the cold fog and drizzle of
yesterday...
 was this morning at around 0900 replaced by bright
sunshine......
 We held 1 reef and the staysail throughout the
night, which, with the reduced visibility, was pretty gloomy. A ship,
detected at 8 miles, came within 2.5, but we never saw his lights - thus very
glad for the radar, which has been doing sterling work. But now the clouds
and fog have gone, and we can see for at least 12 miles (althought the horizon
is only about 3 miles away).
Wind steadily picking up - just had a broach, so
2nd reef gone in main.
Our friendly dolphins continue to put in several
appearances a day, and yesterday we had our erstwhile mast-head lander give it
another go.....
 Can anyone identify this chap? Maybe whatbird.com
will shed some light on it.
Otherwise, not much to report. The watches
come and go, as do meal times. Yesterday's supper was in the shelter of
the cabin, so put paid to our usual routine of a social hour in the cockpit
beforehand....
 As you can see, Sarah has been very abstemious on
this trip!
We are all inevitably now counting the days,
and with current - and expected - progress it's looking more like around the
middle of Monday rather than early Tuesday for our arrival time in
Falmouth. Our plan is to stay there for about 24-36 hours, showering and
eating out (our minds are continually dwelling on what we are going to order!)
before we set off on the c.130miles to Poole - which we will probably do in two
bites, stopping overnight in either Dartmouth or Salcombe. Hopefully Tim
and Anne will join us for this final leg.
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