The Scotts' sunny Solent sail - by Vicky

The Scott family taking in the sights

Not having seen my Dad for four months was compensation enough to face the drizzly rain hitting the windscreen on the drive down to Portsmouth at 8am on a Sunday morning. Myself, my boyfriend Sam Scott and his parents Dave and Debbie made for a motley crew of decidedly inexperienced sailors. The weather at Gosport Harbour lit up as if to welcome our arrival though and we soon found ourselves heading out into the sunlit Solent and eating salty cheese sandwiches. We saw the old navy Forts that had been turned into mid-sea hotels and speculated on whether Tesco would deliver. What happens if you need a cleaner?

We had a beautiful trip out to the Isle of Wight and back with very few incidents.  Whilst coming back into the marina Mike was pulling out a rope that happened to be looped round Sam's feet, just before we contacted the pontoon, but no one fell overboard so all in all we deemed it a success. We moored up and has a fantastic dinner at The Boat House cafe. We could watch the sun going down with the same enthusiasm as the old sea salts littering the bar could finish their ales. Heading back to London I felt rather wistful and I'm now looking forward to seeing Dad and Bonita again in Cowes next weekend.