Day 2 19th May

Woke to the sun streaming through the windows at 6.00.I needed to get past Start Point at slack water, which was at about11.00, so had plenty of time. The sunshine helped recharge my battery through the solar panels. It had run down abit during the night as I'd left my laptop and mobile phones on charge. this was by way of an experiment as I needed to know how quickly my solar panels (65W total) would recover a full charge in the battery.

Enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in Alf Rescos. I'd never been there that early before and there was a different crowd. It was full of the guys who keep other peoples' boats going, they were the do-fores of Dartmouth as opposed to the done-fores who hadn't yet got up. I recognised the guy I'd done my competent crew course with about 15 years ago. I was too engrossed with his mates to interrupt, but I wonder what he would think of me doing this trip a few years later.

Back on the boat i learned that last nights bump with the submerged tree wasn't so damaging. The wheel was a bit jammed with bark, but was in working order, so harm done.

The wind changed quickly from north to south then to the south west as I headed towards Plymouth. This meant I had to motor sail for much of the way until I passed Bolt Tail and then I had one long port tack across Bigbury Bay. The only glitch on a great sail in force 3/4 winds was the fuse going which put the auto helm out of action. I rely on this piece of gear above almost anything else. It means I can leave the cockpit and sort out sail changes, tangled sheets and stuff. It had to wait until i got to Plymouth before I could sort it out.

Before I left work. My team had prepared a fantastic buffet. Sue had made a cake with a picture of Britain and a marzipan representation of Hylje. I had kept some for the journey. it tasted good in the sunshine. Most other Fridays I would have been at work! I've tried rotating the picture of it, but it still prints it on its side!