Saturday - 9 June 2018

The alarm went off early, as seems always to be the case when we leave somewhere. There were still final preparations to do before leaving, and the plan was to depart at around 9:00 and hopefully avoid having to cross the path of the ferries entering Lymington. The river is relatively shallow, and although we draw much more water than the ferries, we have to keep out of their way.  Naturally enough, we met one entering as we were making our way out, but we managed to find a suitable passing place.

We were soon out into the familiar territory of the Solent and heading west, sails set and our brand new, even bigger Red Ensign proudly flying from the stern. We passed through the Hurst Narrows and Needles Channel without incident and then headed south west down the channel. This course kept us well clear of the Casquets TSS, and was basically downwind. We had a few moments of the spinnaker, which obviously triggered the wind to change direction and rendered it redundant again. We also had a period with insufficient wind to sail and motored for a while. All in all a gentle day to start and ideal for all the newcomers to get acclimatised to the boat, and for all of us to find our sea legs and fall into the watch system.

By midnight we were west of Start Point, and making steady progress. Our route takes us south west for about 380 miles, to a point at 10 degrees west. From there we will head south, and finally turn southeast to La Coruna. We go this far west, beyond the shortest course to avoid the infamous conditions of the Bay of Biscay. Here, the ocean currents enter an enclosed area, and the sea shallows from more than 4000 metres deep to about 100 metres. This results in a rough surface and combines with a place where low pressure systems can get trapped. Being as far west as we plan to be, we will be beyond the edge of the continental shelf, and able to take advantage of the winds which rotate around the low pressure. The forecast is favourable for several days, and the routing models say we could arrive as early as Tuesday. A safe, uneventful trip, and arrival Wednesday or Thursday would be just fine with all on board.

Distance covered today	78	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	78	nautical miles
Distance covered 2018	798	nautical miles

Steve (and Tricia)