It’s Sunday afternoon and we’re leaving the Scillys, heading for Lundy island in the Bristol Channel. This means we’ll initially be travelling East and hoping to take advantage of the prevailing winds. For nearly two weeks when heading South West we’ve had South Westerly winds and had to travel under engine. But today the winds decide to change and blow from the East, meaning we’ll need the engine for this journey as well. Oh well.
It’s a slow journey. With the wind and tide against us we’re not even making 3 knots. A couple of hours later we do get some sails up, we set a course that’s slightly less direct but allows us to make some use of the wind, the tide is no longer against us and our speed increases to 9.8 knots.
We keep travelling into the night, and the overnight watch report that the stars are the best they’ve ever seen, with a clear view of the Milky Way and many shooting stars. Meanwhile I’m tucked up in bed as I’m on galley duty the next day. When I wake at 6:45am it’s pitch black in the cabin: the porthole covers have to be closed while we’re at sea. But as soon as I go up to the mess it’s bright daylight, which is quite a contrast.
Progress overnight has been good, and we anchor off Lundy at 9:30am, ready to go ashore after lunch once various jobs on ship have been completed.
