Newlyn, Cornwall

We left Arklow on Saturday at 6am heading back to England. The sea was flat but the wind was light. We motored until 2pm by which time sailing conditions were ideal. Under full sail on a broad reach we headed south at 7 knots. As conditions were good we decided to go to the Scillies. After about 2 hours I tightened up the main halyard (the rope that holds up the big sail) and it snapped. The mainsail came crashing down. We then discovered that the boom was coming away from the mast. Lucinda remained below snoozing, I looked on in admiration while Michael and Iain rigged up a spare halyard and reattached the boom. After 2 hours we were back in business. However, we thought it best to head to Cornwall for repairs. While all this was going on a pod of dolphins came to surf on our bow wave and played around the boat for about 30 minutes. Lucinda and I took the first night shift and as the sun set we were joined once again by a pod of dolphins that stayed with us until it became dark. The four hours passed rapidly as we ploughed through the night with only the phosphorescence of the water, the lights of passing boats and the glow of the instruments to break the darkness. Michael and Iain took the 2 to 6am shift during which the wind slowly died as we neared the Cornish coast. We then motored the last few miles into Newlyn. The scary photo shows me in the morning just off Lands End where another pod of dolphins played around the boat. Fog descended off Penlee Point and we discovered that none of us had enough puff to produce the 4 second sound we should have made on the foghorn. We were at sea for 28 hours and sailed for 18 of them. We've now showered and caught up on our sleep. We hauled Iain up the mast and have sorted out the halyard. We toasted ourselves with champagne and celebrated crossing the Irish Sea. We're now in a pub eating fresh catch of the day.