Since the finish in Plymouth we had a 5 hour layover then delivered the boat back to Lymington arriving on Monday night in the rain and dark. Since then I have not stopped as Dad’s boat has to be organised for Cork Week. At the moment I am still feeling the effect of the last leg which was a nightmare to say the least. My injuries on this leg amounted to a very sore bottom due to salt sores, a scalded left hand and a badly cut right thumb. Mary’s back just held out after having physio in Lowestoft she actually retired us from the race as she wasn’t enjoying the whole experience. I was looking forward to Cork Week race and return to a dry warm bed! My body right now is exhausted and my muscles are still cramping a result of continuous use in the cold and wet. My foul weather gear is now hanging on the washing line having a much needed air along with my sleeping back which ended up with salt rings showing just how wet it was!

 We left Lowestoft 3 minutes in front of the boys on Modi Khola. The internet press releases were commenting on the gap putting the pressure on…

“QII sailed by Mary Falk and Ashley Perrin have cut away the hour’s lead that Alex Bennett and Dave Barden on Modi Khola has striven for. The forthcoming tactical beat back to Plymouth will again be a needle sharp boat on boat race between these two highly able crews.”

We started with two hours of tide against us but moved along nicely towards the Dover Straights beating the whole way. As the wind filled in in the morning the wind was up to 30 knots and I managed to cut my thumb deeply in the first few hours while freeing the jib sheet. In fact the whole leg turned into a beat with the lengths of our tacks down to Dover being constrained by the shipping lanes and sandbanks. The straights are one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, at one point I counted 16 tankers around me. We were very lucky and managed to catch the tidal gate around the corner into the English Channel as it got dark, thankfully leaving behind the sandbanks and oil rigs of the North Sea. What a place to sail!! Mary was off watch asleep and I stayed on for 5 hours taking QII from Goodwin sands to past Dover when she woke up much surprised to find where we were and relieved that she hadn’t been on deck. Mary wears glasses however, they got covered in salt spray and therefore she tends to sail on oblivous to ships until they are quite close. I ended up shooting the gap ahead and the other 100 yards behind. It was almost close enought to read the Captain’s name badge. But honestly tankers are a big problem as Wolfie’s Toy the Open 50 found, she managed to ram a tanker in the dark at 9 knots. Teh bowsprit acted as a crumple zone and luckily due to a watertight forward bulkhead the boat didn’t sink and they limped into Plymouth without a bow.

The wind verred to the SW from the S so it was a beat all the way up the coast to Plymouth. The changing wind speed meant there were many exhausting sail changes with reefs coming in and out continuously. Equally exhuasting was moving the gear from side to side after each tack. The night of surviving began as dusk arrived and we closed the coast of the Isle of Wight. The changing direction of the tide meant that the sea state fluctuated between very big waves with no backs and spray flying off the top and relatively flat water. Unfortunately when the wind and tide were against us we tried to tack into shallow water which meant that the sea state increased.