Belated posts below (sorry - I had no internet, and then was busy celebrating!)
Friday 16 September - Lymington to Buckler’s Hard
Buckler’s Hard is a beautiful boatyard on the Beaulieu River
in the New Forest. It is the place where ships that fought at the battle of trafalgar were built, as well as torpedo boats used in WW2. Now it is also part-museum with
cottages of former boat-builders of old, well renovated, now lining the ‘high street’ (actually a grassed bank) which leads from the visitor centre to the
river and to the pub and hotel. It is a favourite stopping place for many
yachts, and well worth a visit if you get the opportunity to do so.
Jean-Francois and Joan left the boat this morning to deal
with issues at home, leaving Roger, Judith and myself to take Blue Star to
Buckler’s Hard. There we met Susan and John who were staying at the hotel in
readiness to attend Blue Star’s formal arrive home in Hythe on Saturday.
Joke:
Velcro – what a rip-off!
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| Looking down the 'high street' towards the river |
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| Looking out across the river |
Saturday 17 September - Buckler’s Hard to Hythe
We left Buckler’s Hard at 9.00am and motored gently down the
Beaulieu river and out into the Solent. There
was a fair wind so we hoisted the mainsail and showed off our ‘Woolcool’ logo
again! Off Calshot the North-West wind and waves came at us all the way down Southampton
Water and it became quite difficult to make progress against them. Slowly we
inched our way forward and finally saw the crowd of supporters and well-wishers
standing on the quayside and Hythe to welcome us in. It was really good to see
everyone there and it made a lovely welcome back to Hythe for us. Thank you
everyone for all of your support! I did a short celebratory jig (see it here
Mike's Deck Jig) on the foredeck to an Elvis's 'Return To Sender' and everyone joined us aboard Blue Star for a celebratory drink of champagne. In the evening we held a celebratory dinner in the evening at which Roger and I were each presented with a Woolcool GB Challenge trophy, a Blue Star medal and a 'shipping forecast' mug! Three trophies in one day - not a bad haul!
Joke:
A very nervous first-time crew members asks the captain ‘Do
yachts like this sink very often?’
The
captain replies ‘No, it’s usually only the once’.
J
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| Friends and family gather in Hythe ready to welcome us back |
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| Blue Star shows up as planned at 1200 hours! |
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| Celebrations begin onboard Blue Star |
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| Roger and I being presented with the Woolcool GB Challenge Trophy |
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