Fastnet!

My brother-in-law is currently crewing Challenger 2 in the Fastnet race which goes from Cowes on the Isle of Wight, round the Fastnet rock off Cork on the West Coast of Ireland and finishes in Plymouth.

It takes about 5 days and at the moment they're operating a 6 hours on, 6 hours off by day, and 4 hours on, 4 hours off by night system. He is going to be knackered by the time they reach Plymouth!

356 boats set off from Cowes yesterday, passing Hurst Castle between 3 and 4pm. It was a slow start due to almost no wind, but things suddenly picked up and soon the boats were racing past. Hundreds of people had either taken the little ferry to the Castle or walked along the spit and were all waving and cheering the boats on as they sailed through the narrow strip of water between the Island and the Castle, past the Needles and out into the Channel.

The Fastnet started in 1925 and runs every two years and it attracts huge numbers of boats and supporters. My BIL said Friday night got a bit messy with too many Cocktails consumed :o) By complete coincidence, my sis in law is in Cork (Castletownshend)  and sent us a pic of the Fastnet rock she'd taken on Friday. It was in the distance so I haven't uploaded it.

Challenger 2 was some way behind the others, and the boys amused themselves during the wait by building stone towers to knock down with pebbles. Of course, once their father noticed there were three boys playing the stone game, narrowly missing people walking by :o)

Some Dog People found the whole thing exhausting...

I went looking for butterflies and found a pile of Common Blues, Small Skips and Meadow Browns on the thistles, as well as Ladybirds and Bees. As usual, it amazed me the number of people who just walked straight past and never noticed this busy little collection of wildlife right beneath their noses....

My Bro in law has his mobile with him and as the Challenger Ships finally came into sight we were able to ring and have a chat with him. He managed to spot us on the shore. Largely because we were all shouting, waving and jumping up and down like idiots :o)

And then they were gone, heading out to sea and Ireland. It was a fantastic sight and I'm glad we had the chance to go and support him. At the moment, they aren't lying in last place because another boat got stuck on what we presumed was a sand bank and the poor things have limped back to Southampton. You can follow progress here if you're interested.

Hope all are well? We're in the middle of Birthday Celebrations here. Talking of which, I must go and put a bottle of bubbles in the freezer before the Grannies arrive....

CT :o)