To the buoy... it's just over there.
Timmy's close eye on boats as they rounded The Needles
Jib up... Melissa takes the weight off the bow...
Hmmm... tell me again... less drag with t-shirts off?
Toby takes a moment to chill on the Leeward rail
Okay, The Needles in sight now...
"How are we going approach this, Rich?"
We approached these quite quickly
At The Needles... It's getting quite (!) busy.
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Gordon: thoughtful
hmm, that's not right.. faster boat behind us... we must be doing well!
Melissa contemplating our progress so far... seems to be going okay...
yep, that faster boat is quite (!) a bit bigger than us
close... mind the rocks on the left... mind the wreck to the right.
Sun shining, blue sky, no need for light today
heading for the cliffs.. how close can we get, Carole!?
a long beat coming up as we leave The Needles behind
in fact... a very long beat.. 5 hours long!
Ace navigator, Carole, on deck... a rare sight!
The fleet still behind... spinnaker up
Timmy and Stephen look for the next buoy
Toby on Spinnaker duties, triming all the way
The team find themselves at home, well, they call it home...
lots of people, lots of drink, lots of music
homeward bound.... a great weekend... look how empty the pontoons are now!
Yesterday, these pontoons were heaving with yachts...
Goodbye Cracker... still moored at Cowes.. she'll be needed again soon
Looking again at the start line... not so many boats today.
Cowes, The Isle of Wight