August 4th, position 51°28.497N; 001°55.010E

We just finished dinner and are preparing for our last night at sea. The sail through the Channel was smooth and the weather was superb except for Marc's watch last night. He and Jantine had some serious showers but by the time Monique and I took over the sky was clear again and it stayed clear all day. We passed the cliffs at Beachy Head, like the ones at Dover but more beautiful and sailed all the way up to Dover. Then the wind dropped to practically zip and we had to stat the engine.

From Dover we're motorsailing up NE about 30 Nm or so and then turn East to cross the shipping lanes and head for Westkapelle. From there the route is very familiar...

We now can be sure to arrive Sunday but an accurate ETA is still difficult to give. I don't expect us to get there before dinner though....

I feels a bit weird to know this will be my last night before completing my tour around the Atlantic... Tomorrow I'll be back at Scheveningen where I left September last year.
It was a very eventful an exciting trip.. It changed my life in more then one way and a new future is about to begin... :-)
I'm ready for it and full of energy to make it happen

August 3rd , position 50°01.137N; 003°57.330W

The plan was to point at Brest... well whatever... The wind changed so we gibed and then we were pointing at Lands End :-o
Again it was a very nice and sunny day and on top of that we got visited  by a pack of dolphins... not just once but three times. The last group was really funny. They were doing all kind of tricks jumping out of the water.. it even looked like they were trying to splash Jantine who was watching them on the bow. Later that day we also saw a huge turtle.

Last night we got to see the first sight of land. Not real land yet but the lighthouse of Bishop Rock just South of the Scilly Isles.
From now on we have to be very careful and watch out for other ships. The Sea Me sure helps other  vessels to see us but the AIS that's supposed to give us information about the others does not realy work. It only shows vessels that are very, or better, way too close by. It might be that the antenna is too low to work accurately. Which is a bit strange because the one I had before worked fine with the same antenna.

Anyway, we checked in properly with the Falmouth Coastguard and are now way into the Channel just about South of Dartmouth. The wind has died a bit but is supposed to pick up again later today. The direction is fine though and if it stays this way, it'll bring us all the way to Schevenigen.
We're still hoping to get there by some time Sunday but that's not yet an EDA :-)