Windless Friday

Sid returned to laundrette at 08:00 on Friday morning to resume the ordeal left uncompleted the night before. A more relaxed morning was enjoyed by all with the opportunity to replenish provisions, at a local Tesco, and take advantage of hot showers once more. Upon departure at approximately midday, after giving the boat a thorough clean, we left the marina finding as expected very little wind. Depending on who you ask this either made for a brilliant day of relaxing, or was very mundane and tedious as there was little prospect of sailing by power of the wind. We were fortunate enough to be blessed by short spells of sunshine in which Charles wasted no time jumping below deck to change into his shirt and shorts. The less brave, or more sensible, of us remained on deck in jumpers and coats more suited to the temperature. Just four hours after departure we arrived at our proposed destination and sent down the anchor. This made the preparation of the nights food much more civilised than it had previously been with the boat settled on calm waters. The prospect of preparing pastry for a treacle tart proved too daunting for the stern team who were quick to suggest alternatives. When the skipper, Ian, put forward the idea of rice krispie cakes (taking only 5 minutes to prepare) they readily approved. With this prepared a relatively blind leap was taken towards the Bacon Bake on the

night’s menu. With the guidance of Mary Berry, Chris and Lewis prepared the dish. When served one of the chefs appeared to have little confidence in his meal preparing himself a sandwich instead. With some hesitancy the crew ate. The end result appeared mostly good with a solid 9 awarded by the first mate and the captain proclaiming he wished there was more! The desert went down equally well with the impromptu addition of Angel Delight most welcome. The night was finished with several games of cards including one new to us all, suggested by Matt who “rang his mate with a PHD in maths” for clarification on the rules.