The last day of the cruise: all boats disperse to home ports
Time to go home now
Today everyone would disperse to their home ports. At the briefing last night quite a few boats wanted to take advantage of the flat seas forecast and go the distance making for home, the Thames or Solent for example, some stopping in Ramsgate to re-fuel. At 0715 hrs local time the first boat Fairline Mirage ‘SeaJay’ slipped its lines at Oostende bound for Felixstowe. SeaJay was also accompanied by Broom 39, ‘Sunniva Of Boston’. As planned the rest of the fleet began to leave port at around 0800 hrs, the slower boats first followed by the faster boats.
The forecast had been correct for once. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the fleet had flat seas all the way down the Belguim and french coasts. Furthermore there was very little wind for the crossing either; superb conditions to end a cruise on.
By 1130 control boat Calm Voyager had already recieved messages of safe arrival from the Felixstowe boats and midday most of the thames boats were well on their way too.
With all their ‘chickens’ (boats) safely home, Calm Voyager and Time Flies continued on triumphantly back to the Solent, arriving on the Port Solent fuel dock shortly after 1600 hrs. Although the cruise had been a slow starting due to weather the cruise has been a great success, first channel crossings had been made and new friends too. Thankyou to all those taking part.
Photo captions:
Nimbus 29 Nordica ‘Louisa’
Fairline Phantom 46 ‘Dragonfly’
Broom 345 ‘Way Ahead’
