A rest day had been decided in advance, and we stick to that, despite a westerly wind that could have brought us to the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland. Many crew members wanted a rest day to take showers, wash clothes, etc.
In the afternoon, the weather forecast gave us one day (Thursday) with westerly wind to carry us south. Later in the week (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) we could expect a heavy wind from the south, so we have chosen to stay here on Islay to do more test sailing. There is relatively little current here, compared to a port in the North Channel, where we would otherwise end up. The current there would be too strong for test sailing. It looks like there is a chance of a westerly or even a northerly wind on Monday.