Monday 19 August 2013

Finish of the Round Britain Challenge

On Sunday morning there was a simple gathering in Cowes of the skippers, crews and friends of the 20 boats involved in the Round Britain Challenge. In words pictures and music there were reflections of the shared experiences of the cruise. Many felt it had been greatly enriched by being part of a group of broadly similar boats cruising together.

Barbara Runnells sings 'Moon River'
The cruise has not completely ended: Minstrel and Capraia will not have finished their circumnavigations until they get back to Milford Haven. We and several other boats will be heading  eastwards for home tomorrow.
In the evening Sarah and I went out for dinner with Sian and Ant and Barbara from Moon River.

Barbara is much admired by us all for having completed the circumnavigation single-handed. Single-handed coastal sailing with its ever-present navigational and shipping hazards requires constant vigilance; in this respect it is much more demanding than offshore single-handing.

Jolyon, Eric and Mary with Minstrel
The effects of the RBC will carry on for a while; in this month's issue of Classic Boat there is a fine article on Witch by Claudia Myatt while Nic Compton's article on Bonita is due to appear in the October issue. No doubt there will be much exchange of photos when we all get home. Our Dutch friends are planning ways to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their branch of the OGA in 2014. 

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