Take 10 lads, 3 ribs (
willk,
donegaldan,
tonymac "Cáit" and
parm "Thumper"), introduce them as strangers on a foggy Ardglass slip at 0800, 50 minutes before a passage to the IOM.... What could possibly go wrong?
For once however, Murphy's Law looked the other way and we were off! After a quick counseling session to convince my plotters that they were BOTH going to Douglas via the Calf of Man Sound, we slipped into the fogbank and stayed there until we (almost) hit Man. The Sound was interesting, but relatively benign. The next visual was of the lighthouse at Douglas.
At the quay wall we were met by those Excellent Individuals,
Brian* and
Cypman who were even better than their word and ran the shore marshaling like a Professional Event - many thanks guys, give us a chance to return the favour soon!
Good to meet
BruceB and his charming
MissusB (she's virtually a neighbour of mine, as it happens). Also completely failed to meet
DM but left a calling card on his transport
.
Wavelength - sorry about the spaced out Comms, I drank your pint
My big thanks go to the company I traveled with - sound lads all, running smooth teams in fairly miserable conditions.
The last pic below shows
Cáit being pursued by the IOM Airforce. You're supposed to LEAVE money in the IOM, Tony
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*After some very careful questioning, Brian kindly allowed me to land