48:35N 11:15W

207nm to go to the Isles of Scilly

Today has been very dull with thick fog again all day.

The wind is now behind us so we are sailing along nicely with poled out yankee and main.  The wind is between 15 and 20 knots but the fog is not shifting, our book says above 15 knots it should clear but it’s not working.  L

We are sailing along with the radar on constantly but so far have only seen a couple of fishing boats.  Once we reach the continental shelf this evening we are likely to see a lot more fishing boats so will need to start keeping a much closer lookout.  As the depth drops from 3,000m to 100m there are apparently lots of fish.  It is also likely to get much choppier.

We are sailing at over 6 knots which means we are scheduled to arrive at The Scillies early Tuesday morning in the dark.  As we don’t know the approach well and it is very rocky we may need to stand off or slow down until it gets light.

We also don’t want to arrive in thick fog.  Can anyone let us know if it is forecast to still be foggy on Tuesday morning in The Scillies?  If so we may have to abort and go straight to Falmouth which would be a real shame.  They will be our last taste of 'island living' before we return to the main land.  We've been on islands ever since we left Lisbon.

Position at 18:00h UTC Sunday 24th July 2012

48˚35N

11˚15W

COG/SOG:          068˚T / 6.5kts

Wind:                 280˚T / 18 kts