Crew Changes

We have settled down in Plymouth and the transatlantic crew have departed, back to their families and boyfriends, but we have two new crew that have joined us; Madamoiselle Ensign and General Napoleon.  Two 3 month old kittens, one  black tortoise shell (Mlle E) and one black (M. N).

Full of playful kitteness, E thinks they are better than television!

Cornelius and his family have made us wonderfully welcome in Plymouth, but time constraints mean w are off to Dartmouth in the morning for a couple of day and then the run up to Cowes.

Back in Old Blighty

Well, we finally arrived in Plymouth to the welcome of Cornelius' family who came out at 0100 to stand on a headland and watch us in.  Official arrival time of 00:41 on 28 June.  18 days 7 hours and 41minutes.

All tired and now looking forward to a few relaxing days in Plymouth before heading for Cowes and the BCYC regatta.

More to follow once we have sorted the boat out, cleaned up, showered etc.

Tonight or tomorrow?

AIS website shows Croix des Gardes' last positoin before they drifted beyond the range of the base stations at 1951 BST.

This puts them with about 30nm to go but only doing 4.5kts.  It's going to be a late night for the team.

SMS from 881631669242@msg.iridium.com

1500 position 53 from Plymouth entrance.

SMS from 881631669242@msg.iridium.com

Noon position 49 49n 5 46w. Just off Lands End. spinnaker up first this passage.

Anticipated Return

For those of you eagerly awaiting news on Croix des Gardes and her crew as she approaches the UK today, the AIS Marine Traffic website has not yet spotted her our side of The Pond. We worked out that we had to be within 5nm of a base station to be 'seen'. There are stations on the Scillies and at The Lizard. James should pass close enough to the former to be picked up sometime early this morning - the latest positions and speeds suggest between 7am and 9am - and they should then be tracked pretty much all the way in.

AIS also shows the steady stream of ships making their way up and down the Channel as well as a small hadnful of other yachts approaching from the Atlantic so she should be in good company.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/

SMS from 881631669242@msg.iridium.com

1800 position 49 32n 7 55w