Well, OK not exactly attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, but a few sea-beams glittering in the dark off Grimsby ... and we did see a Puffin, a Gannet and a Guillemot in the wild.
So wind back to late afternoon on Sunday the 6th May and we’re in the SAAB driving to North Frambridge, down through leafy Essex country lanes to join Kingfisher: a Beneteau Oceanis 361 (36 foot) cruising yacht. We parked up and have supper in the Ferry Boat Inn around 6pm (it was closing early for food even though it was a warm and sunny bank holiday) and discover it has no draft beer left. We eat and then join the boat and meet the other crew members who are saying their farewells on the pontoon. Odd meeting people like that - cold - with few introductions and not knowing what is actually expected. Lots of open questions - probing the background, income, status, religion, politics, married status and age. Oh and sailing experience. We got through that part fine.
Kingfisher was one of two boats, Charlotte Elizabeth (CE) being the other, doing the Round Britain sail for the McMillian Cancer charity. It was organised by Premier Sailing, although the charity aspect was a bit lost in all the instructions.
Our other crew members had a wide spread of experience: we had Barrie who was a very experienced sailor, had owned many boats over the years and had ventured as far as Denmark and Karen who was very much a novice and was getting her first taste of real sailing ahead of crossing the Atlantic with her brother in the summer in a trimaran. The Skipper was another Martin who was a qualified Yacht Master, trainer and very experienced in boats big and small. So that night we had an awkward pint in the pub with both crews (Rob 1 [Rob 2 joining in the morning], Steve, Frank and Skipper David from CE) crawled into the fore-peak and sleep on the boat.
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