Douglas, Wednesday

You can tell you're heading south as this morning there's little or no condensation in the master cabin ! Yesterday I had open sea from Belfast to the Isle of Man & with a single reef but full Jenny, set for a beam reach, I clocked up 65nm in 8hrs, with a maximum boat speed of 11.2knots. Although once over the sand banks on the other side, it became obvious that my next way point was unobtainable directly by sail. Having got in front of a fleet of synchronised line trawlers, I headed on a close reach away from the island. The sea changed from continuous swell to one of short choppy waves

I punched on out but as the wind gusted to 27knots apparent across the decks the Jenny was rolled in & we tacked back to relative shelter the island might give. This tack was a poor one & gave me very little gain to Douglas. So just before the lea of the land I was tacked back out to once again see the town of Douglas in the bay. This time I kept going until my skipper felt the next tack would take us into the bay. With sails down we stayed out in the bay whilst a ferry came in & waited further instruction from the Harbour Master. I am too a deep a draught to go into the marina which is only open 2hrs either side of high water. So I moored up on a floating pontoon on Battery Wall, a bit industrial & noisy, but safe & out of the way !

My crew has spent the day in museums and provisioning for the trip to Dublin & some R&R in a pub on the quay !

Forecast is suggesting easing winds throughout the day, still we wait and see on that front !