The OGA60 Round Britain cruise is go!

Boats started to arrive in Ramsgate on Thursday, and some set off from there do a short cruise to Sandwich before the others arrived.

By Sunday afternoon there were 9 boats of the fleet in Ramsgate. Recipe and Hilda arrived from the Netherlands. Bonita, Barbarossa, Cygnet of London, Lahloo, Onward of Ito and Our Mutual Friend arrived from various East Coast ports. We attracted other Gaffers, including Agapanthus, who just happened to be going part of the way.

Dog issues were solved, crews departed and arrived. A posse of supporters arrived in cars, camper vans and a motor boat.

There are few I would class as Gaffer royalty but amongst those are Jan and Robert Holden who took on the organisation this weekend. We consumed fish and chips in the delightful surroundings of a Dutch barge which is the sailing club at Sandwich. On Sunday evening Wetherspoons in Ramsgate was the setting.

There was some doubt that boats in the inner harbour would escape on the neap tide but they managed it. The pontoon party was curtailed with the reality of a 4am start for those hoping to make Eastbourne.

Report by Marion Shirley