Aug 08, 2005 – 0500hrs UTC

0500hrs 08 Aug 2005 UTC 50’02”N 003’17”E

Early morning after a clear starry night – right in the middle of the Channel along the northern edge of the traffic separation scheme. Long procession of ships passing us, with Portland light looming to the north early, and Cherbourg and Alderney to the south. We saw the Channel light vessel and we can now see Start Point to the NW. Took a big punt coming out this far and won’t know if it paid off for a bit yet – perhaps when we close Lands EndIt is the most westerly point of mainland Cornwall and England, about eight miles (13 km) west-southwest of Penzance. and see who else is around. Certainly seems to have worked, as we held the breeze for all but an hour during the night. Depends what the rest of the fleet got close inshore.

Time for a bacon sandoAustralian sandwich and a serious consultationA regular engagement with alcohol. One might say this whole epic is a Consultation with a bit of a sail round it. See also Conservation Mode; Linear and Parallel Methods of Consultation to fortify me for the day.

An hour or so later – we’re still going well, past Start Point with about 10 other boats in sight around the forward and starboard horizon. Anything we we can see, I think, we must be ahead of on handicap, but we’re still very much in Act 1 of this little Soapie. AssyAsymetric spinnaker flying and about a knot-- Speed: definition of speed at sea. One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The nautical mile is about 1.15 % longer than the "statute" mile used on land. A knot is about half a metre per second. -- A knot is also the result of winding a rope around itself or another rope to make a join or a loop . of adverse tide, which will change in a couple of hours.