Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand hooooooooooo!

A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Fri 19 Aug 2011 12:22
49:58.22N
004:24.57W
 
We passed 20 miles south of the Scilly Isles yesterday afternoon, but didn't see a rock or lighthouse of the place. But by midnight, there was the loom of the great light at the Lizard just troubling the horizon. When the sun rose, a fingernail of land was visible to the northwest, but we were already past the headland and officially into the English Channel. As if to confirm this, there has been a steady stream of gigantic ships ploughing up and down on either side of us.
 
I asked Elise whether she'd seen much shipping during her night watch and she thought for a second. "No, only two," she said. "But one of them came quite close."
 
"Oh, yes?" I asked, having told her to wake me if any vessels troubled her. "How far away?"
 
"Oh not too close," she replied airily. "200m away or maybe more like 100m."
 
Uneasy laughter. Really?? Elise has strict instructions now to wake the skipper if anything gets within a mile.
 
For the first time in nearly a week, it feels almost summery in the cockpit. There's a strong sun out and though the air is cold, there is little wind, which makes it seem much warmer. Fears that summer in Blighty was entirely composed of rainstorms, showers and sea-level cloud may yet prove unfounded.
 
We had a cracking northerly wind yesterday which kept us scudding along on course at about five knots until it gave up at 3am. It was a serious pleasure to be sailing in the right direction for the first time in days. When the breeze gave out, we donked up accordingly and we've kept up good pace since. Our arrival time is still on track for about 10-11am tomorrow morning. High water at the Town Quay runs from about midday to 4pm, so ideal for our planned landfall.
 
Just one more night watch between us and civilisation. In the meantime, the crew is busy mending, tidying, cleaning, scrubbing and packing. There is the smell of land in the air, we're listening to Radio Four and everyone is bright eyed and bushy tailed. We're even fishing for macker in a last ditch effort to bag a sea beast...