Baby Clemency onboard for her first sail

Jos and Alex Sheffield are friends who we have always had fun doing the RTI race with. The introduction of baby Clemency had halted all sailing for Jos so this was her first trip in a while but more importantly this was baby Clemencys first sail!

Clemency on her first sail

The Sheffields arrived not only armed with baby gear but loaded with some good wine! It was clearly going to be a weekend for fabulous eating and drinking. Most amusing was Alex’s clear disdain of the baby buggy as he was forced to bring it onboard and we lodged it in the anchor locker.

Saturday winds were kind and Jos helmed us over to Beaulieu. Tom leapt to trim the sails but stopped mid- flow correcting himself saying “ah – maybe not, baby onboard!” The Beaulieu River was its usual beautiful self and arriving at Bucklers hard we decided it was time to launch our new dinghy. An all singing and dancing hypalon inflatable keel dinghy we hope it will serve us well when we go further afield. We ceremoniously named her FIH after our three godchildren Frank, Ieuan and Henry. Too late for fuel for the outboard we took her out for a paddle. Or that’s what some might call it. A drink in the pub and dinner and wine and port on the boat took us late into the night. During the night the wind howled away and in the morning we found the buggy that Alex had tied to the pontoon hanging in the water. Alex really does detest that buggy!

Trying out our dinghy!

Sunday dawned windy and wet so we embarked for a walk in the forest with Jos wearing her Dubarrys and enjoying the numerous puddles while we all jumped around trying to miss them. The winds died and in the afternoon we headed back down the Beaulieu River. Alex sat on the bow seemingly enjoying the scenery and peace and tranquillity. He was back in the cockpit after 5 minutes muttering he couldn’t enjoy it as Clemency was in the forward cabin making a bit of a din!

Before we knew it we were back in Hamble with the weekend having flown past. Just great to see Alex, Jos and Clemency again. And sounds like some plans for the Sheffields to sail with us in the Med. Better stock up the wine cellar!

Note the milk bottle!