Chapter 30

Up at dawn and I was soon flushing the anchor chain off with a deck hose as the electric anchor winch hauled up the anchor (mud and seaweed in a chain locker rotted and smelt) and directly under my feet Jill had her arm in the chain locker spreading the chain around so that it didn't pile high then fall on itself when the boat started bouncing. I'd noticed her putting on gloves before doing this job to protect her hands and very expensive manicure which gave me a twinge comparing them to my own produced through tennis and varnishing, embossed with a few soldering burns!

The first couple of hours the wind was still light but from the west as we wove our way south at high tide through the Tresco flats and scattered islets. By 7am we had all plain sail up with the wind on the starboard beam and by 9 am a reef in the main and the foresail partly rolled as the wind rose to a moderate to fresh breeze . It wasn't relaxed sailing any more at this point as we were crossing the English Channel, with the heaviest concentration of shipping in the world. To say power gives way to sail is, I'd been warned, foolish anywhere but it was doubly so here where it felt as though we were trying to cross a motorway on foot. At least we could see the ships in daylight but that made me worry more about crossing the concentration of shipping off the French coast tonight.

At least we made good time throughout the day and the shipping was lighter mid-channel while I slept. The wind did rise though to a fresh to strong breeze by the time I woke again for a late lunch so before eating I helped Alistaire put a second reef in the mainsail and roll the foresail in further - I couldn't help but notice that this sail that set so beautifully when fully open was looking creased and a lot less efficient shape as its working area reduced so it was doubtful we could make good time if we had to sail against this wind.

During the afternoon I worked out the dawn and dusk star sights I had been taking and was pleased with the results but only after my third attempt to use the tables! I'd measured the elevation of those stars I could see while the horizon was visible; the time of the measurement to the second with my watch (that I'd checked against the radio time signal) and roughly what direction the star was from the boat. I didn't have to know the name of the star simply looking in the tables for stars that matched my observation. The only slight confusion was that one of the stars wasn't a star at all - it was the planet Venus.

It happened just before 8pm: Alistair had gone on deck to help Jill with ship watching, judging their speed and direction from the lights they could see and how quickly their bearing moved from left to right or right to left. I was below boiling pasta for my Bolognese sauce when there was a huge double bang!

"Venus! On deck!" I turned off the oven gas and shot on deck, grabbing my foul weather jacket as I went, only to find… nothing wrong at all. "What the hell was that?" asked Alistair. There were no ships too near, no flames in the sky and the wind had even eased a little… Then it struck me… Bill! That man could surely talk and he talked of all sorts such as…

"Concorde! It was Concorde opening up down the English Channel on it's way to America. That must be the sound of it going through the sound barrier! Wow!!

My dinner was a success even if we did eat out of tubs rather than off plates - did I mention it was a little bouncy? My watch started at 10 pm and I was glad to have Alistair's company. It is fastest and safest to cross a shipping lane at right angles but not really feasible with ships turning south as they left the English Channel at the northwest tip of France. By midnight however we could relax a little as we were heading south-southeast to the east of all the ships on their west or southwest courses so Alistair went below to brew tea, read and doze in the saloon.

The wind was definitely easing and alone on deck, with clear skies and gentling seas I saw something I had never seen before. I saw the stars! I'd seen stars before, occasionally even in Cardiff but never like this. With clean air and no human lights they swept across the skies like, like… nothing on Earth…

It was first light when I woke Alistair to help me manoeuvre around a fishing boat that was maintaining a collision course (getting bigger on a constant bearing). Whilst tacking around the fishing boat we took the opportunity to shake out a reef from the mainsail and unroll the foresail a bit more giving us good enough speed but a comfortable ride - with only 260 miles to go there was no hurry as our best plan was to arrive in two days on Saturday morning. Tea and cereals gave Alistair a start for the day and me a supper so by the time Jill joined us I was more than ready for sleep but it didn't come quickly. I knew I didn't want a lifetime at sea but the previous night alone on deck had worked its magic. I was hooked… and whatever the future brought part of me would always be wanting to recapture that feeling.

Two more days Alistair had guessed and Saturday morning, having radioed ahead to the port authority for permission, we motored into the Getxo marina, Bilbao. It was large but fortunately someone came down from the marina office to direct us into a berth and help us tie up. Alistair asked in Spanish , which I don't understand, what must have been something like, "Where is the restaurant as these fool women have been starving me for a week? Por favor!!!"

Jill and I did insist on time to clean up first but it was over a very early lunch we pulled out our phones to bring everyone back home up to date. My text was simple and sent to Mum, Litara, Serena and Bill. 'ARRVD SAFE BILBAO GETXO MRNA'

I'd barely started my fish and salad, kindly bought by Alistair, when my phone rang and Litara was gabbling "Monday…Dress nice.…Film…". Maybe she wan't gabbling and it was just her on London speed and me on sailing speed but I slowly understood that 'The Project' had legs again and having seen the video the backers wanted more and as a film crew were already busy at the Guggenheim Museum it was natural to fit me in so…"

"What do you mean 'fit me in' and seen what video?" I asked reasonably

"The idea is to draw a parallel between your personal voyage and the sailing voyage. This would be an introductory interview in an interesting location"

"That sounds as scary as hell. I never expected to answer personal questions on camera! You haven't answered the other question either. What video?"

"The one Jean-Luc shot of you and Serena and posted on shareyourworld..com