Lumpy Bumpy

16:40UTC 06/08/07 48'16.9N 6'13.2W

Well the wind came round for us all right. At about 7pm, just during happy hour the southwesterly breeze died away and after a few minutes a new breeze came in from the northwest and stayed there, building through the night to 25 knots. Perfect for us in terms of direction, but the seas are relatively shallow (100 metres) and the atlantic swell builds up into short sharp waves that make for a bumpy ride. Apart from me, all the crew have suffered a bit overnight, but everyone stood their watches and got a little sleep. First night out is always tough. Today has been time to sleep, recover, eat a little bit and get on with getting south. We made 110 miles yesterday, almost on our target average of 120 and given the forecast, we'll easily make up the difference today.

Coming out of the Western Approaches of the English Channel, it's not long before that long rolling atlantic swell is felt. It's a movement that speaks of thousands of miles of open ocean, of little ripples starting on an American beach and building into the great curling fluid motion of a wave that has travelled far. Everytime I've felt that swell - coming out the bottom of the Irish Sea, coming round Cape Wrath in Scotland, going to the Isles of Scilly - it's called to me and beckoned us on a voyage, which at last we are taking.

Got our navigation a smidge wrong today and found we had moved a few hundred yards inside a 'traffic separation zone' which exists to guide big tankers and container ships around the corner of France, 50 miles off Ushant. The lanes are 5 miles wide and our course just grazed the southbound one, so a quick tack took us back out and there were no ships within 10 miles or we'd have had them on our radar anyway. However, it is the nautical equivalent of taking the kid's scooter along the hard shoulder of the M25, so a little more vigilance required at Finisterre, although we plan to be much further away from that zone when we get there in about 3 days time.

The boat is doing well, and we are continuing to gain familiarity; the crew putting in and taking out reefs, heaving too, tacking the boat and furling the headsail, so they increasingly know how to do the basic tasks without me. I've also done a radar / plotter / autopilot tutorial as a one on one for each crew member so they will probably do more watches alone tonight without disturbing their standby, which gives everyone 6 hours in bed at a stretch and is very civilised once we get it running.

Today's meals haven't been exactly to plan as few have felt like eating, but today's snacks have all gone and a few of the spare snacks are at risk too. We'll take a view on dinner nearer the time. Yesterday's meal plan included the instruction 'finely chop the onion'. Don't try this at home, but you can visit your local funfair armed with an onion, a chopping board and a sharp knife. Get on one of the more lively rides, balance the chopping board in front of you and, well, you get the picture. We've put a band aid on Ian's finger. However, the meal was superb - chinese beef with red peppers and broccoli, served with rice. We'll get back on plan as the crew get used to being at sea.

Tonight's cocktail - "Cherie Blurgh" - Sherry (Cooking).

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