Position 47 29.3N 7 47.7W

Thursday 11^th June Plymouth 222 nm

It really seems we’re on the final lap now; the mood on the boat is moving up the scale from  jolly to frivolous, and the calls we made about arrival times, varying from Saturday evening to Monday noon seem pretty pessimistic – sometime in the early hours on Saturday looks likely. Still, that was four or five days ago, when we were still heading east with a grubby low above us, and the threat of another moving into the channel about now. It looks like motor all the way now, with little wind and quite strong spring tides round Ushant, though it’s a little early to say whether they’ll average out for or against us.

Meanwhile, there’s plenty of power, so computers are charged, pictures swapped and sorted, videos watched (Flight of the Conchords, Bill Bailey, Peter Kay etc etc), all with a backdrop of an eclectic mix of music. Today is beard final after six weeks of intensive cultivation, during which competition has been fierce involving intensive training, mind therapy and secret potions. These have been jealously guarded, but essence of squid ink, flying fish balm, diesel dew and bean poultice (latter two accidental discoveries) are rumoured to feature. At least one of the beards will have been removed, in sculptural stages, by the time landfall is made in Plymouth.

Knot of the day: Tugman's hitch  Saying: Murderer

Before

Ater