Round Britain Diary

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A facebook post by Gilles:

Finn, black hawk and Kalish are now safe at dun laoghaire waiting for Duma and blue ray

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Facebook post by Trevor G (Blueray):

Duma and Blue Ray arrived at 20.30. a long day!

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Me and Jurgen meet up with the dudes from Fast Forward and we head off to the pub for my first ever pint of Irish Guinness and it's the best I have ever tasted, just like cream, its awesome

The Thornton dudes are really interesting guys

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End of day 4 (Here was the planned route)

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Ok, that's me for a bit... My little heads frazzled

[HUMBER P4VWL]

Been a great read whilst looking after the rugrats! Cheers. Inspires me to do more, I think a Guinness run is on the cards. ;-)

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Day 5

Ok, so we are 3 boats down now.

Today we are off to Bangor, Northern Island...

I slept in Blue Ray as Trev and Rick had Mikes B&B and Jurgen slept on the deck of Black Hawk in the rain. But the good news is it's brightening up...

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Facebook post by Ray (Finn)

We had a few problems yesterday but hope to sort them out today, our new team member got to see the Irish channel in a strong wind but she held on bravely to reach Dun Laoghaire and recover enough to take Will out for dinner on his birthday. I think she was very brave.
We are setting off this morning to Bangor will post some pictures today.

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Facebook post by Mrs G

Meanwhile, the main group have had a leisurely lunch at Portaferry, leaving there at 1530. Eta Bangor 1645. Hopefully the Targas will catch up tomorrow night at Oban.

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After lunch we head back out and round to Bangor, we pass a huge tide powered turbine and the workmen strike a pose as I take a pic

The funniest thing about the trip is listening to all the accents change over the VHF as you work you way around Britain

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In Bangor, me and Jurgen walked through the town and found a huge supermarket. I purchased loads of cheap white T-Shirts, underwear and socks. They are all sold in resealable plastic bags so ideal and they're cheap too

I would have paid 10 times the price for them

Jurgen bought a new camping mattress and we were good for the rest of the trip

That night we all had dinner with Fast Forward, Scrambled and Mad Tubes!!!

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I can't remember where I slept that night, but I think I was in Blue Ray again???

You can see in the pic below the sleeping solution on Fast Forward, awesome idea

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End of day 5...

[Bushrider]

Originally Posted by whisper

we pass a huge tide powered turbine and the workmen strike a pose as I take a pic

Have seen this "thing" already last year during Round Ireland but had no clue what it was .
What I remember was that I had to rev up the ETEC90 up to 2000rpm to keep the Seaerider on the spot . The tide was really strong !
Since this year I know what it is

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Awesome pics Jurgen

[Bushrider]

Originally Posted by whisper

I can't remember where I slept that night, but I think I was in Blue Ray again???

Can´t remember where you slept that particular night . I think initially we wanted to sleep on the pontoon but there was not a square inch without seagull shit ..
In the morning in the twilight you came from one corner of the marina and went to town for breakfast .
There we met Alistair – who stayed at this B&B . He was very impressed about the full English breakfast and told me “if you finish this portion I will buy you a beer”
Answer : “wrong question – you can order the beer already” 
In the evening I got a nice beer from Alistair 

Originally Posted by whisper

You can see in the pic below the sleeping solution on Fast Forward, awesome idea

What Mike & Ross did with the Fast Forward was really amazing !
I remember they showed me the boat in Blackpool after they bought it . I liked it but by nature of inboard boats there was very little deck space available . This day I was happy to leave with Black Hawk on the tow bar the yard .
They really converted the RIB to an offshore camper ! I was really impressed !
Now – while I am still enjoying a lot the performance of Black Hawk – Mike & Ross are having the bigger grin in their faces when they refill their diesel tank a the end of the day ..

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Day 6...

As Finn leaves early with Trevor G and heads for Stormforce for some tweaks we leave later and meet them there.

They're have an F1 pit stop arranged, engine raised, change of prop and an new plotter bracket

I was going to contact willk to meet him there but everything was a bit of a rush...

Mean while the Targa's were trying to catch up...

[willk]

I hadn't realised that Mr. Motivator was on the trip

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Here's breakfast!!!!

[willk]

Originally Posted by Bushrider

He was very impressed about the full English breakfast

Are we importing breakfasts now?