Last night Sevi joined us and after an excellent Thai meal spent the night in the boat. Today Tim, Dave,Jim and Sevi left. Ian, Nicola, Les and Debs joined for the final week. Dave and Jim did an excellent job cleaning so Javelin looks gleaming for her visit to France. We plan to go to Calais tomorrow and then on to Boulogne before returning to the south coast and back to Southampton.

What do the fingers of your left hand and Goldmer Gat, Sunk Inner, Middle Deep, Black Deep and Kentish Knock have in common? They are all part of the Thames Estuary, where the shallows on the chart look like you have laid your left hand on it to define the shallows. Set off at 7:30 from Shotley and almost ran aground in the exit channel! The rains of yesterday had cleared, the sun and moon were out and we set off on a broad reach dodging sandbanks, wind farms a...