The MBM are on the home straight now
Sunday 23rd July
Day 16
Position – Home berths
It was another early start for fleet this morning in preparation for the last leg of the cruise. It was very grey and murky in Weymouth. Today the fleet will disperse to their homeports.
The plan was for the majority of the fleets Solent based boats, to take advantage of the slack tide off the Needles. The aim was to get all the fleet passing the Fairway Buoy by 1000hrs before the tide turned. Neale advised the slowest boat, ‘Lazy Days’ to take the North Channel into the Solent. Otherwise at eight knots it would have meant a ridiculously early start and a very long day on the water for the young family; plus they would be foul tided for the later part of the journey. By the end of the day everyone had checked in safely.
To sum up, the cruise had been blessed superb weather and favorable winds. An Easterly wind allowed the fleet to travel down the coast; then it had swung round at Falmouth carrying the fleet home. There had been a couple of lumpy, grey days but overall and for this time of year the cruise has witnessed the West Country at its best. Confidence has certainly grown among the fleet. Special mentions and congratulations to fleet boat ‘Joyful II’. Joyfull II, a Poole based Sea Saga 26 had been the smallest boat in the fleet, bar ‘Time Flies’, and its owners freely admitted that prior the cruise they had only used the boat to potter around to Studland Bay. Their courage to ‘go it alone’ and make passage back to Poole from Salcombe on Friday was evidence enough that they had learn’t a great deal about their and their boats capabilities from the cruise. Owners Paddy and Sue were full of praises of the cruise and for the support of the MBM team.
The MBM team would like to thank and congratulate all the participants on the cruise. They would also like to thank the Harbour Masters for their support in every port visited.
