Not being someone of great literary skill, nevertheless, I have decided to try my hand at the first diary entry under the disguise of setting up the pc ready for the crossing whilst the rest are busy at much more essential task, either onboard or ashore.

Suffice to say that things are going well after a slightly shaky start when Bob, Charlie and I arrived from the airport by taxi on Sat evening.  Being chivalrous types we agreed to share a taxi with a lady joining another vessel and duly loaded all the bags into the said taxi.  On arriving at the first destination, ours, the three of us disembarked and unloaded what we thought was our luggage only to find once we had reached our accommodation that I had done an ‘Alasdair’ in that I had come away with a backpack belonging to our fellow sailor and left my new waterproof in the vehicle complete with wallet.  Much wailing and gnashing of teeth followed.  Fortunately the story has a happy ending and we were able to meet up again very shortly afterwards to exchange items.

Fitting out preparations are going well and although Mike continues to add jobs to his list, the rest of us are just about keeping up with his demands.  Mike and Buster naturally claim to have worked their fingers to the bone before our arrival but we can see little evidence of blood-stained fingerprints on the boat.

The weather is warm and our fellow sailors very welcoming and helpful.   Attached are a few photos to give you a flavour.  More to come I hope.

That’s all for now, much lov from the 5.

Alasdair