Saturday 8 April
Skipper took a long watch from 0300 – 0800, allowing Mate some much-needed rest. While dodging vessels using the shipping lanes he experimented with twin headsail combinations and was able to sail without the engine for a while…and the first twelve hours was under my keel. As soon as Mate took watch half-a-dozen dolphins played around me for about 15 minutes – she must be a Dolphin 
Whisperer, as they rarely appear when Skipper’s on watch on his own. Her theory is that they know when she needs their support and entertainment to distract her if she’s not feeling great, but whatever, their visits are always a privilege and a joy.
We were motoring again in very light zephyrs and a flat sea…Mate even got her knitting out for a while. She burned her finger on the touchscreen of the chart plotter, so turned it off to cool down as it seemed to be overheating. Unfortunately this meant it was no longer recording our distance travelled, but there is another gadget on the other binnacle that logs sea miles covered. After lunch together, Skipper decided to change course to “make the most of” the available wind, and he hoisted the mainsail and unfurled the gennaker to pick up a following breeze. Now 40˚ off course we were at least sailing, and on a very comfortable reach, and in the end we only covered about 20M more than expected in the planning. At 1500 he added to the log: 35M S of Rame Head (Plymouth)…but it certainly wasn’t visible.
Skipper must have taken pity on Mate, as he let her sleep until 1800, and she came on deck to find us slightly heeled under staysail and main, making good speed but less good course. At 1900 she restarted Trevver to charge up the batteries to keep Jeanny and all the electronics running. With AIS overlay on the chart plotter as well, all the toys are thirsty, but essential to stress-free cruising. Skipper applied his culinary skills to placing two French style ready meals in the oven to heat through, and they were much enjoyed, especially by Mate who’d settled enough to feel hungry.
At 2000 Mate proved her weather prediction correct as the wind died towards evening. She hauled in the mainsail and furled the uncooperative staysail, guiding ‘the boys’ to pick up our correct course. By 2200 we were 30M South of the Lizard, well out of any overfalls that run to about 5M offshore, and parallel to the course we’d plotted last week from the Helford river. Dolphins joined us in the dark around midnight, when the Wolf Rock light was identified to the North at the watch handover.
The crew agreed to keep the remaining watches short so that they were both relatively fresh to make landfall in Scilly in daylight, where careful ‘eyeball’ pilotage is essential. As Mate retired, Skipper got us sailing again into the new day.