Round Britain Diary

[whisper]

I've been on Hot Lemon this morning with Mike Deacon, he's been showing me the boat and what she can do.

Mike talks me through the wind direction, the tide and the sea conditions and then adjusts the trim and trim tabs etc and I was surprised by the settings he used.

Mike makes the Scorpion glide, every landing is perfect like we never even left the water. We're doing 40 knots and burning 1 litre/Nm of diesel. Every movement he makes on the wheel is perfect.

I'm absolutely blown away, he runs in several different directions and can set the boat up perfectly every time.

He's mastered this art and he's doing everything without even thinking about it.

This is why Mike holds world records

[whisper]

Facebook post by Huw - Sea Salt (who is STILL in Inverness):

Breaking news, three beers have made it!!! Shame I won't get to Southampton to see you crack them open

[whisper]

We had lunch at Pizza Express in Brighton.

Rick G is feeling a bit better and has caught the train down to Brighton to say hello

Daniel and Wayne head back to Ramsgate and it was great to see them

The conditions aren't bad so we make good progress and start to see some familiar sights, it's cowes week so there's a few yachts around.

We've said our goodbyes near Bembridge as that's where Duma lives.

As we enter Southampton water Black Hawk gets a call on the radio from Scrambled so we stop. They remind us that we said that if we make it we will do a jump into the water!!!

Jurgens off!!! I take my boots off and we climb into Scrambled and just let Black Hawk float away

Jurgen can wait, he jumps and I do too nearly landing on him! And Team Scrambled take the picture...

[whisper]

After a bit of splashing around we have to swim to Black Hawk and my drysuit zip is letting in a little water over my crotch area

We wave goodbye to Scrambled, then make our way very quietly up the the river Hamble on our own.

I give Mrs W a call who is at Biffers with the kids and they head down to the slipway with the trailer.

I've changed quite a bit, I'm more tanned than I've ever been before, the muscles across my shoulders are huge and I have stubble as I haven't bothered shaving for a few days. I'm also wearing a blue drysuit and not the yellow one I left in.

I can see my wife and kids as we approach the pontoon and my best mate/boat building mentor stood at the slip next to the trailer.

I climb out onto the pontoon and my kids run up shouting daddy daddy!!! They give me a massive hug and then my son says, "Daddy, can we catch a crab?"

Mrs W is standing just a few feet away, smiling and taking in the new me!!

I can't really explain the moment, it's just very surreal.

(Sorry no pics)

[whisper]

I want to recover the boat but Biffer sends me straight back to his house to spend some time with my family.

Jurgen and Biff arrive shortly after and we start to unpack and sort out our kit.

My phone keeps ringing which is a pain as we need to get the boat ready and Jurgen has a 1,000 km drive back to Berlin Germany and then a flight back to Kiev to get back to work.

Everything is sorted quite quickly though and Jurgen is soon on his way.

[whisper]

Now you may think Mrs W has had a real hard time but she hasn't, she just had a little wobble for a few minutes.

In fact, she has arranged for our caravan to be towed to the beach so we can spend a few days together.

I lay on the bed thinking that the only thing stopping us getting the RIB 4 Macmillan to the boat show is me and although I've tried everything I'm not going to give up. So I stand on the beach and make a call and secure £1,200 sponsorship for our Southampton boat show stand.

I end the call and then take this photo below...

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End of day 13 (here was the planned route)

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Day 14

Facebook post by Huw (Sea Salt)

Always look on the bright side of life dd,dd, dddddd.

Well done everyone who made it all the way around!'



THE END...

[Xk59D]

cracking read and superb to see some funding for a great cause....well done!

cheers

[whisper]

Originally Posted by Xk59D

cracking read and superb to see some funding for a great cause....well done!

cheers

Thanks dude

[whisper]

Sorry if I haven't replied to many posts on here, I just needed to get it done and the only way for me was post by post.

I still have so much more to tell and I could keep going and going but please ask away if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them

I wrote this up as I met a guy called Mike Brooke at the boat show who also had done round Britain and written a book after completing the same route in a sail boat which took him 37 days in 2008.

He tried so hard over the 10 days to get me to write a book, but unfortunately I have dyslexia and I find these things quite tough, however he did tell me that I shouldn't keep it to myself and others would want to know?

So if you want to own a Round Britain Book, signed by Mike then I can post his details on here as he is raising money for Fight for Sight, the book is about £10

[Bushrider]

Originally Posted by whisper

Jurgens off!!! I take my boots off and we climb into Scrambled and just let Black Hawk float away

Could not wait to take my boots off - not even my CAT basecap
Was a good exercise - swimming behind a boat in a drysuit and getting into a RIB without ladder
But we had Scramble near by ..



Last "high five" with Alex - which was quite difficult due to the air in the suits ..

[Bushrider]

Originally Posted by whisper

Jurgen and Biff arrive shortly after and we start to unpack and sort out our kit and Jurgen has a 1,000 km drive back to Berlin Germany and then a flight back to Kiev to get back to work.
Everything is sorted quite quickly though and Jurgen is soon on his way.

All the days we been all together at sea we were all so deeply involved with all the daily things that there was no room to think that there will be an end . Ok - probably looking at the budget would have been a good indicator
But in Ramsgate - where we spent the last evening and the last dinner together I could not get it into my mind that this is almost the end of this fantastic journey !
After everything we went through together it was really hard to say goodbye !

Here I want to say a SPECIAL THANKS also to Biffer for his hospitality , all his highly valuable advise , tips , tricks or help !
He is a man who is not asking much - he is simply doing it !!
Also many thanks for taking care about my trailer maintenance ( Ben - the "trailerguy") during our absence !





BLACK HAWK arrived safely @ home and is now ready for the next trip

[whisper]

Thank you so much Jurgen for everything and to Biffer too.

Jurgen, I put this video together for you, thanks dude

(You may only be able to see it via a PC)

See you in 2015 - Round Scotland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Ze...ature=youtu.be

[whisper]

Video from Team Finn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ9HMUDatSg

[Bushrider]

double post ..

[Bushrider]

Originally Posted by whisper

Jurgen, I put this video together for you, thanks dude

See you 2015 - Round Scotland

No words - just great !
Lets look forward to Scotland !

[whisper]

News from Team Duma:

[HUMBER P4VWL]

Alex if dyslexia is the only thing stopping you from doing a book, have you considered using a dictaphone? Your language is good enough based on re posts.

Thanks again and well done. A fantastic read. I'd buy a book to cover all the other details, technical bits, navigation, worries, set up, humour, emotions etc

[whisper]

Originally Posted by HUMBER P4VWL

Alex if dyslexia is the only thing stopping you from doing a book, have you considered using a dictaphone? Your language is good enough based on re posts.

Thanks again and well done. A fantastic read. I'd buy a book to cover all the other details, technical bits, navigation, worries, set up, humour, emotions etc

Thanks dude, but sadly there's no book in me, but with very little to watch on ribbing I'd have a go at making a documentary type film, but not a book