That's Basty preparing the G&T in celebration of our arrival in Dover - such a long passage - must have been at least 15 miles!
Earlier, Andy arrived in Ramsgate at about 1330 but Bonny was still pinned to the pontoon by a strong westerly wind. He only had a three days and I was getting worried that he might have to spend them all in Dover. Thankfully by 1500, the wind had moderated sufficiently to allow us to coax Bonny down to the end of the pontoon. From there, I reasoned that despite the risk of maiming some, or indeed all of the crew, we should escape close scrutiny by the Marina authorities.
Whether we did or not I'm not sure, but to my great relief and not inconsiderable surprise, we managed to extricate ourselves without damaging anything or anyone and headed out to sea.
We then enjoyed a beat down to the South Foreland, sometimes in brisk winds. By aroumd 1900 with Dover 6 miles off our beam, the wind died and so we motored the last hour or so into Dover.
Once inside, and under the watchful eyes of Dover Port Contry, we motored towards the new western marina. 10 minutes in, the skipper became so disorientated that we passed an East Cardinal buoy to the West (rather than to the East which is what we should have done) causing Port Control to call us up to warn we were heading for shallow water!
We eventually made it to the marina without mishap. Our plan to eat ashore was scuppered by torrential rain so Mick cooked up an excellent meal and a thoroughly enjoyable evening was had by all.
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