Cowes to Lymington

We have plenty of time to spare before our formal ‘finish’ on Saturday so we took time out to enjoy some sailing in the Solent today before returning to Lymington to collect Judith who is now our fifth crew member. It was once more interesting to compare how busy things are in the Solent, where yacht crews are simply expected to exercise responsibility and care themselves, with the approach in many other ports where they consider themselves to be so busy that yachts are carefully managed via instructions broadcast over VHF radio. Today we also saw Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup team practicing in the Solent today – they sailed within about 5m of Blue Star’s stern, so we had a great view! It was disappointing that Berthon marina in Lymington 'never do anything like support charity sailing boats' whilst east cowes marina had given us a 50% discount! Thank you East Cowes marina, your support is really appreciated! Very disappointing Berthon - 0 out of 10, we probably won't come again.

Jokes:

• A boat carrying red paint crashed into a boat carrying blue paint and the crew were marooned.
• Making a boat out of stone would be a hardship!

  

  Three vessels converge on us at the same time!

  

  Ben Ainslie's America's Cup team wizz past us!