By our undercover correspondent, Wynne Cha-Grinder

Who would organise a trip that says “meet at Hamble at 1830 on Friday?” Has this skipper never heard of the M3 traffic reports? The last arrivals appeared just before 2000 on 14/09/07. A quick decision was made to stay in Hamble that night and set out at 0400 the next morning (rather than overnight in Portsmouth).

That was convenient for Bob Harris and Mark Hobson who immediately went to the pub to watch England seek glory against South Africa in the Rugby World cup.. 

That left the skipper, Mr Baz, Mrs Hobson (who does exist) and Monica Bradley to prepare themselves, and demolish the supply of wine. That they managed to do.

Concorde in Shoreham         

Saturday 0400 departure with one shift and no wind, while the next shift took over at 0830, still with no wind. Mrs Hobson, who was frequently busy in galley, prepared bacon butties. We are not mentioning the fact that Baz and Bob consumed 3 of these. Arrive off Shoreham at 1145 where Bax hopped into the dinghy to get emergency supply of wine from one of his friends. (see the X-Channel Foray report to understand the importance of victualling). Some lunch was eaten. 
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Re-anchored 0.71342 nm W to watch the air show. We loved the Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancaster bombers going over head. A quick flash from the Red Arrows. Eurofighter was extremely noisy and various others that the skipper was enthusing over.

At 1700 we left to get the lock opening and tied up in Shoreham, washed & changed and visited the Tapas bar.

The next morning we took the short walk to the beach to find Carats beach front cafe where again only a small quantity of an excellent, economical breakfast was consumed.

Through the 1000 lock opening (warn the lock keeper earlier) and headed off into a SW F4/5. We made slow progress until about 1300 when we put the engine on. We then made slow progress, but in the right direction. Fairly bumpy on the way back, but we eventually returned safely back to the Hamble at 2100.

A very good and varied weekend, well done Baz.

To make a confidential safety report