Following the delivery trip we spent a busy day heading to Sainsbury’s to kit Spellbinder out with crockery, cutlery and bedding, and other domestic essentials to get ourselves going. With a sort of managed chaos below, we met up with David Anderson and his friend Tim Wolfe-Barry, who had chartered a Vancouver 35 called Fusilier , and we sailed off to Cowes where we berthed in the RYS Haven. It was a downwind sail, with a F 4-5 right behind us and Spellbinder behaved herself impeccably.  We invited David and Tim aboard and drank to Spellbinder’s health, before heading off to a most enjoyable dinner in Cowes (DB’s on the High Street – we were lucky to get in there, as it is very small and like dining in someone’s front room. The food was excellent).

The following morning we headed to Hamble Point to join the Winchester College Sailing Club rally, and had a very agreeable couple of days based out of the Royal Yacht Squadron undertaking some gentle racing, with Sue, Tom, Anna Cockell, Eric Billington and Alec Prosper-Orr on board as crew.  Much to my surprise Spellbinder won line honours in some great sailing conditions but came third on handicap! The final sail on Sunday was with Tom and his friend Tiger Tellwright – back to Portsmouth to Spellbinder’s buoy.