Around 0330, now Saturday 27 August, Mate noticed that waves seemed to be breaking just off to my starboard side: a green glow from the bow light now indicating we were motor-sailing as the wind had dropped. She felt the presence of, as much as saw, a pod of between six and a dozen dolphins, playing around and under me, surfacing right alongside her and ‘blowing’ like a whale. She felt very privileged by this private show, and for their joyful company in the darkest hours of the night.
Skipper’s last watch was lit by the silver path of a quarter moon along our wake, 
until the sky finally began to lighten as dawn crept over the Eastern horizon, and the sun rose on the new day. He tried to goose-wing my sails but there was some swell and not much wind, so I was rolling around and the sails slapped about noisily, which disturbed the Mate’s rest. She put me onto a broad reach, which was faster and less sloppy, but frustratingly in the wrong direction. An hour later they jibed me onto the right course for Cherbourg, but again it was hazy and the coastline indistinct. The heat steadily built through the morning, and we finally tied up on the waiting pontoon in Chantereyne Marina at around 1400: 32 hours non-stop and my longest passage yet. After a brief nap we moved into half a space amongst my Allures and Garcia sisters, which is at least free of charge and has water and power.