Day 1 and 2
Carlile Adventures
Mark Carlile
Wed 4 Oct 2006 09:06
On Monday, 2nd October, I departed Plymouth and began my trip home.
I woke at 4am, a little nervous with anticipation. It was raining hard, and the wind was up. I put my head against the pillow and shut my eyes. I knew that sleep was never going to come now. I checked the weather forecast and their was no change from the day before. It was due to clear soon.
I tried to keep busy while I waited. I had my last extra long hot shower; did a last load of washing; checked and checked everything was on the boat; made the last few phone calls I needed to make; and tried to have breakfast. The last item on the "to-do" was to fill the diesel tank.
The skies cleared by about 9am.
Once the tank was filled late morning, I turned the key for the engine late morning. That signified the start for me. The years of planning had come to this one moment. And that was that. I left the marina.
As I entered Plymouth Sound, I thought of all of the people that had helped and supported me along the way. There are many and space limits me to list everyone. In particular, I'd like to thank all of the help and support from Ingeus and WorkDirections (http://www.ingeus.com) in Australia, UK, and France. Thanks as well to my uncle, Allan Clark, and my mother for all their time and effort in helping getting the boat (and me) ready.
Thanks to all for those kind gifts, messages, and support from all of those people following this journey. Plymouth is a very welcoming place and I thank all of those people who have come up to me wishing me luck.
Back at sea, I left Plymouth Sound's western entrance. The winds were still southwest. The sails were up. Once I had passed the breakwater, the first hour was very choppy. I headed for Eddystone Rock, a few miles south of Plymouth. Once past, the wind turned to blow from the` NorthWest. Perfect. A direct departure. I headed south-west, pointing to the Atlantic Ocean.
I stayed alert for shipping. I knew the next few days were going to be difficult due to lack of sleep. I took 4, half hour naps on the first night when the radar detected no shipping in an 8 mile radius. I travelled 83.4 miles in the first 24hours. The nerves had well and truly gone.
The wind had dropped off by Tuesday morning. Still, I was happy with the first day. I hadn't pushed "Ingrid". With a trip as long as this, and Ingrid with an extra 1.5 tonne of supplies and equipment, there is no point seeking for that extra knot. It also gave me time to establish daily routine and generally get my sea legs. Lucky for me, seasickness, is something I have never suffered from.
On the first night, I had my first self heating meal - Chicken Casserole. In 12 minutes I had a piping hot meal. I'll explain more about these in a future blog. During the night, I could see the lights of England fade into the distance. I was now well into international waters.
On day 2, everything remained the same. I was now in the middle of the English Channel. There was quite a bit of shipping to look out for. By Tuesday evening, I was now off the north west coast of France. A few squally showers passed over. I was still heading southwest. The wind has been west or north west the whole time.
Last night I slept a number of half hour naps totalling 4 hours. For a couple of hours, there was no wind. It gave me a chance to rest. I needed it, I could feel the effects of fatigue due to lack of sleep. I had been losing concentration in the afternoon. I took me half an hour to find a tool I had put down somewhere. Funny enough, it was right where I had left it. I will get better sleep once I am clear of the shipping lanes.
Progress has still been good though. Tomorrow I pass into the Bay of Biscay.
That's a very good day to you from Ingrid.
m
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