The Last Post

Kindred Spirit is coming home, ETA 1pm Sunday 11th July. This is the last post on our blog although we might add some photos of arriving at the club, just for the sake of completion. A favourite photo and memory of the trip is setting out from St Martin's in The Isles of Scilly in the dawn. The shot of leaving Harwich this morning just illustrates the contrasting places that a sailing trip round the UK includes. 




Standing on the deck of our yacht Kindred Spirit II, we get a warm glow when we spot Bradwell nuclear power station on the horizon. Bradwell was our first overnight stop on our round the UK sailing trip and we are currently sailing with a very convenient east wind into the estuary on our return to our starting point of Blackwater Sailing Club. Sweet Caroline has just been played on the radio and our next familiar landmark will be the Radio Caroline ship which is moored permanently in the estuary.

We had a delayed start on May 13th and it has taken nearly two months to get round. We could easily have enjoyed another month, giving us more time to explore the estuaries of southern England, the east coast of Ireland and the Scottish islands. We found a kindred spirit among the people we met in Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England. If you have ever thought about the possibility, in whatever boat and at whatever speed, we can thoroughly recommend the adventure of day sailing round the UK. The passage planning, decision-making, sailing and buzz of entering a new port each afternoon, or evening in some cases, is strangely combined with a kind of tourist trail experience of seaside tourist towns and fishing ports. We would suggest that you do it soon. You do not need a fancy boat, a Hunter 30 is certainly sufficient. There will always be a reason why you might put it off for another year, just do it.

We made it round (most of) the UK... 

Comments

  1. Wadders11 July 2021 at 05:23

    Congratulations on your achievement, it's been fascinating following your adventure, looking forward to hearing your tales.

    ReplyDelete

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