Moved and together at last!….. in Cowes
Thursday 25th May
Day 7
Position – Shepards Wharf, Cowes
Calm Voyager was very still when the team awoke. As planned 7am came and Chris and Richard ventured out to check conditions in Time Flies. Sure enough they radioed back a few minutes later saying there was very little wind, the Solent was flat. The sun was trying to break through too, at last, a perfect day for a move.
Neale and Claire quickly rang around the fleet to say “We’re off!” and at 8 o’clock the first boats began to move from Royal Clarence Marina, and from the various marinas in Southampton, on the Hamble and Lymington.
Calm Voyager was followed out of Portmouth and towards Cowes by MBM Cruise participant ‘Opus Two’, a Broom 42. When Calm Voyager reached the entrance of Cowes, Claire and Neale heard a call to the Coastguard from ‘Zest’, a Levi Corsair saying he had a problem. Neale rang him immediately to find out what the problem was. It turned out that Zest had hit something in the water and had limped into Yarmouth on one engine. Calm Voyager left Cowes in its wake and headed for Yarmouth where they found Roger, from Zest tied up and inspecting his props. On initial inspection it appears that some netting, possibly wrapped around something harder, had damaged all four of Roger’s pair of duoprops. Calm Voyager escorted Zest from Yarmouth to Cowes where Volvo could investigate the damage.
While Calm Voyager had been assisting Zest, Time Flies with Chris and Richard aboard had been busy docking the fleet into Shepards Wharf. It had been a tight squeeze, requiring many boats to go stern-to. By 11am, everyone was happily and safely installed, with some crews venturing into town. It was such an impressive sight and the very first time the MBM team had seen all the boats together.
At 6 o’clock everyone gathered at the back of Calm Voyager for a pontoon party, where the MBM team handed out a quiz, comprised from information found during an earlier walk through town. Prizes will be given at tomorrow nights gala dinner at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club.
