Off at last!

Left the Swale at 6am, and a very wet and fast sail down to Ramsgate. It seemed a pity not to go on but the rain stopped, the wind died and we are now becalmed between the Goodwin sands and the Kent coast.

There been much discussion recently of the possibility of building an international airport on the Goodwins. Certainly if you have to build an airport somewhere then the Goodwin scheme would cause less disturbance to fewer people than any other option. The Goodwins have for centuries been a graveyard for ships -the site of many wrecks and many heroic rescues. Buried in the sands must be many remains of ships and their cargos from all ages, all in an unknown state of preservation and quietly deteriorating. How interesting it would be if the airport construction allowed systematic excavation of this unique depository of marine archeology. Wrecks always have an unending fascination-the site of so much drama and effort frozen in time.

Maybe the international air travellers of the future could pass the time while changing planes by wondering at the preserved remains of intercontinental travel from a long forgotten age.

Sent from Samsung Mobile