Jul 10, 2005 - 0730hrs UTC

0730hrs 10 Jul 2005 UTC Lymington

Big weekend – KatherineAlex’s daughter and my brother David arrived and we took Berri to the Royal southampton Yacht Club on the Beaulieu RiverRiver on south coast of England where Alex grew up on Friday and rafted up with some of the boats that were there for the regatta – then up river yesterday morning past Gilbury where I grew up and learned to sail, to Bucklers Hard where there was a shipbuilding yard that built many of the ships used by Nelson and the Navy in the 17th and 18th centuries. Gilbury much changed after 40 years and Bucklers Hard now a commercial tourist venture. A short stay on the pontoon cost us £11.50 or about $30 and it didn’t get any better. But the beer in the Master Builder’s Hotel was still ok.

We sailed over to CowesSeaport town on the Isle of Wight (UK). A home for international yacht racing. on the Isle of WightThe largest island of England, located in the English Channel, separated from the mainland by a strait called The SolentStrait separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland of England.. to have a look at the place again and find the FastnetFastnet Race: 608 mile biennial race from Cowes, UK, Isle of Wight, to the Fastnet Rock off Southern Ireland, finishing in Plymouth. Berrimilla took part in 2005 and 2009. start line and then to Yarmouth where we intended to stay the night only to find the harbour full and a huge messy queue trying to get in – so we went back to Lymington. Sailing here is not the same as inAustralia- it is so crowded and expensive that I don’t think I’d like to live here any more.

Some photos if I can get this to send them – Pete in the pilot’s seat and the coal hole of a Sea Vixen, the NeedlesA row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight, UK. The Needles lighthouse stands at the end of the formation. (in their way almost as significant for us as Cape Horn – they mark some sort of arrival at the half way point), Gilbury, our braced rig in the Atlantic.

[ed: some relevant piccies ]