Some really big swell throughout the night with the bow seeming to rise almost vertically into the air then diving down the next rolling wave … exhilarating stuff!
A bundle of lights appeared on the horizon directly on our course and Miles came to have a look to work out what it was. Miles was still wearing his slippers on deck and according to the rest of the crew this is normal … they’ve been dubbed the 'safety slippers'! He identifies the UFO as a huge fishing trawler doing circles with maybe two miles of net as there are now smaller boats to our east holding the edges of the net. Soon a radio signal came through from the trawler asking for our depth so they can lower their nets to let us over the top.
We passed the trawler making good solid progress and at 3am, identified the lighthouse Ar Men up ahead in the distance from its unique 3 long flash sequence: a good sign that the next watch may be the ones who turn in towards the Channel Islands. It would be a race against time to get round Brittany before the tide turns back and we must get into the channel with the westerly wind behind us or things could become uncomfortable!
The rest of the night passed by without seeing much traffic, apart from the odd trawler heading home. But we did see plenty of shooting stars.
I awoke to much calmer weather as Lesley had navigated to the westerly tip of France, beginning to turn North. And so the race starts!
Follow the journey online at laithwaites.co.uk
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