10th to 14th July - The Bay of Biscay
The original plan had been to cross the Bay of Biscay and stop at Falmouth. However the weather forecast was now showing potential strong winds in the Channel and particularly around Falmouth at the weekend, so the decision was made to do the whole journey back to Swanwick in one go, which could take up to 5 days. Also, after six weeks on the boat, most people were quite keen to get home. It would be a tiring journey with four hour overlapping watches, in which there are two people on watch at all times. The primary person is on watch for two hours, supported by someone else who would then take over as primary watch after the two hour period. To complicate matters but to ensure that people are on watch at different times each day, there are two one hour "short watches" at four and five o'clock in the afternoon. This is how it went: 10th July 09:30 Filled up with fuel; diesel, bread and croissants 09:50 Departed Combarro 09:55 Navigation system in cockpit stopped