A 6am wake up call provides the start for the day, and were soon hitting the road at 7 on the long haul. Well I shunt moan as its the last one this season for me, quite sad really, wonder what is in store for us. I've got Steve with me from the car club ( broke his ribs on my boat at Suffolk last year) he's particularly fascinated by going out at night on the boat.

We pass plod on the M1 as he makes a collection for his Christmas fund from a sports car, not good, but we soon cross the county boundary safe in the thought he wont be following us.

9am sees us refuelling at the services on the A43/M40 and having the obligatory dance as we stretch our legs and get out the vehicle.

Its a clear run and the traffic is kind to us so we make good progress.

Does anyone else suffer from these lorry ruts in the road ?????  I don't generally notice them unless I'm towing but boy do they give Dragonfly a hard time, if not careful they can whip me into the other lane, they seem to be all over the place as well, the A34 has quite a few but I did encounter a number a few weeks ago on the M25.

Well its a 10:30 arrival at Mercury, the suns out, hey no wind !!!!!!!!

We pay our dues to the nice man who allocates us a berth and I try and prise Steve away from Aladdin's Cave as he makes a purchase of tubing for machinery back at work in Leeds.

While on the slipway a couple more boats arrive, namely Khamsin and Too Wreckless. We have an uneventful launch and head for the berth while Steve washes down the trailer.  

First victim of the day is Shirley from Khamsin whom took a fall trying the negotiate the short cut to the slipway, been there myself I'm afraid. 

Hey the suns out, its flat as can be, so four boats make a run for it out to Solent Water. Due Dillegence, Snave, dragonfly and Too Wreckless head off down Solent Water for a blast out.

The water is like a mirror and we make good speed down towards to docks. Several slicks of oil are noticed on route as we slow down for water plod advertising his presence.

After mulling around for a few minutes we decide to return to base for the official club event and head back down Solent Water, the tugs were about spraying what was probably detergent to deal with the imposing oil spillage.

On the way down river Due Dilligence and Dragonfly were buzzed by a zapcat but we let him know who's king in such conditions, but it was fun watching his nose cones twitching as his boat made a bid for flight.....

Back at Mercury we made the boat fast, checked the lights and emergency kit and headed off down to Hamble Villiage for the Briefing. 

As we walked across the car park we admired Tony's parking, or lack of it, these 4x4 drivers think they own the carpark. 

Well the Royal Southern Yacht Club was in a nice location, had a clubhouse that Pathfinders could only aspire to but alas had a few too many interesting rules it would seem.......... Len was first to fall foul of the establishment for the grand crime of wearing his hat, shortly followed by Rob for using his mobile phone.

Obviously not normal yacht club attire........

We had an excellent briefing from Commodore Thompson whom was very thorough in his methods despite having some difficulty in determining the meaning of 3 or 4 red balls much to the delight of his students. Paul gave us an exercise we all found most interesting to pass the time as we gazed out of the window at the fantastic weather conditions we were missing.

The briefing disbanded and we made a dash for the food..... we headed for the nearest pub with Mark from BlueStorm to polish off a large mixed grill..... Half way through we had punch and judy at the window...... smile if you know what that meant  !!!!!

Back at the boat we dawn our full evening attire and ready the boat for the event. We set out early to make Southampton Water before the light drops, its nice and calm in the channel but a little lumpy in the wash but we troll around ensuring all is well with the boat etc.

Paul phones to confirm Bluestorm is having problems with his navigation lights still so we hang around the Hamble Point buoy in antisipation. 

Sorry for the quality of some of the photo's but the camera is no too good in the dark.

Very soon those whom are arriving do leaving just Khamsin in doc with no navigation lights.

Paul is on Abraxis with Martin and gives out his instructions for the evening via radio. We each take it in turns to navigate to the next point on our route using our compass and pre prepared notes etc from the briefing. 

It can get quite interesting in others wash in the dark, especially when there are several of you in close proximity.

On the way home we stopped for the P&O cruise ship Oriana in an attempt to quantify here movements, once these were know we moved on at a slow pace. 

Her escort advertises his presence with his blue strobe wondering what the flotilla of small ships intentions are no doubt. She's a nice ship to look at in daylight, but the night time and her multitude of lights add a new dimension to the experience.

Well I think just about everyone had a go at night time navigation and the experience was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Khamsin joined us on the very last leg with their recently fixed lights, very pleased they made it.

So we steamed back to Mercury, made fast the boat, left the fan heater on thermostat and headed for the Bar.... Had a few beers with the guys n gals and slumped off to bed. Plans had been made to swan off to Cowes the next day for breakfast so I announced we were going at 9:30am thinking we were going alone.....

Well I never, must of been cold in the night cus I've never seen so many Pathfinders ready to leave at 9am...... 

Dragonfly, Iditarod, Fly Bye II, Bluestorm, Snave, Brinsmead, Due Dilligence and Too Wreckless set off at 9:30am on Sunday as planned for Cowes.

Lumpy was not the word for it, it was quite choppy in fact......I could see it was just going to be a challenge just getting to Cowes. Steve my passenger battled with the wash coming over the top and elected to try and dawn his waterproof trousers mid channel which he did managed but this took quite a bit out of him and he retired to the rear seats. Later on he told of holding onto the back of the seat rests while his whole body floated mid air as the boat dived into the troughs.

I was pleased to reach Cowes and see that the fleet was pretty much in tact, I radio'd Cowes yacht Haven and secured a pontoon for us on the west side. We berthed up and everyone had a natter about the extreme journey while removing their waterproofs.....

Bluestorm decided he was going to head straight back so we said our goodbyes and after paying for the berths we set off on foot through the streets of West Cowes towards our destination....

Mark must of been hungry because he wanted to stop in the first cafe we came to, but we kept going till we reached our destination and asked breakfast for 12 please ?????  Now I've been to this place 2 or 3 times before on my privateer events and they always are very welcoming and put on a good spread, we would not be disappointed.....

Its nice to be able to have a chat etc over the breakfast table  as we remarked what a fulfilling weekend we had had so far.

We stopped off a a couple of shops and chandlers on our way back to the berth as Steve purchased yet more tubing for work.

Bluestorm had already departed and given the conditions Due Dilligence set straight back to Hamble. The plan was to head east towards Ryde and then northlerly home. Too Wreckless decided it was a little to choppy for them so they departed back to Hamble in the company of Snave.

The lifeboat entered Cowes with a de-masted yacht, maybe this was a sign ? 

Brinsmead, Dragonfly, Iditarod and Fly Bye II then headed off towards Ryde. It was a little lumpy but tested ones wave riding skills and it wasn't long before the crew of Fly Bye II had had enough, they said their goodbyes and headed back to their berth.

We entered Ryde and made fast against the pontoon, it was quite windy so we laid on more warps, de waterproofed and headed for dry land. Being the time of year there was not much open but we sought the sanctuary of the bowling alley where warmth and hot drinks could be found. Interesting for me cus last time I was here was in Hellraiser, and I still aint got over that yet.

Its so fulfilling given my home geographical location to reach a destination by boat, and I really enjoy getting off for a drink and bite to eat.

While on route back to our boats we watched as the Ryde lifeboat was launched, dragged through the streets by a tractor.

Geoff advised on our projected route and we let loose the ropes and made our way out of Ryde marina entrance. On the way out we passed the lifeboat back on its way in with a small fishing punt tied alongside, obviously over powered in such seas.

It was pretty much a smooth ride back as we passed a number of beach landing craft going the opposite way.

The trip up Solent water was uneventful and flat and nice as we removed our coats to enjoy the Sunday afternoon sun. We cruised up the Hamble in shirt sleeves wondering what all the earlier fuss had been about.

Once Steve had mastered the art of  what looked to be a 23 point turn on the slipway with the trailer ( when it shud just of been a reverse straight back move ) he dawned the waders and took a lesson in hitching up the boat with the winch which was relatively easy. 

We said thanks and our goodbyes to Geoff and Len whom were still there and started the long haul home.

On a personal note this weekend had just about everything I could of wished for ( apart from a late bar ) and it was made most enjoyable by the company and companionship of those that attended. Special thanks of course go to Paul for the planning and instruction on the Nitex, and not forgetting his good lady for the most lifelike training images......

Hope to see you all at the AGM.

Rob.