The Fosters head South

Here is a revised version of the first Email I hope its more readable
My wife Theresa and I are both 53, we had two children, Stephen & Claire, Stephen "Fozzy" sadly died in an accident in France Sept 97.He was well known at motorcycle trials,in Yorkshire, and had a few championships under his belt. He competed with John Lamkin the current world champion 2000.

It was approximately 1976 that we purchased a new Kawasaki 650 m/c and set off on a tour of Europe,Theresa drove the mini with the kids down to Wales (where we now live2015) to a riding holiday center. We then took the bike and traveled through Switzerland and Italy down to the French Riviera. We met up with a group from Teeside who were camping near to St. Tropez; one of these was our friend Dennis Bullock together with his son. One evening while visiting the Harbour of St.Tropez we sat observing a family aboard a steel sailing yacht, they were just enjoying the live-aboard lifestyle, it certainly had a big affect on us, and we hoped one day do the same!
After two weeks we returned home to our daily routine, I was working on Mbro. Dock Theresa at Shaw’s Foundry.
I soon started putting the plan together, as we had owned various boats over the years I had a basic idea what would be needed to take the family safely round the world. I recollect asking Joe McDonald, a workmate at Mbro dock, to teach me trigonometry," failed!) (he had been a math’s teacher in the army), I then had to study celestial navigation, I ultimately did it an uncomplicated way!with a computer..
We settled on a set of drawings from Bruce Roberts, he designs mainly steel yachts and has a good collection.
The 45ft version was chosen, and we selected the Ketch rig. We then had to find a place to build, we lived in Marton Ave, next to the Ladle Hotel, and the Capt, Cook Museum! We decided this would not be the ideal place to weld a steel hull together!
The Evening Gazette was then scanned each night looking for a house with a large accessible garden, after many weeks of viewing various properties, a cottage in Eston was chosen"West Row".
We sold our house in Marton quite quickly, at a good price, which helped the building kitty. Then with an offer from a good friend Dave Muxlow we moved in to an apartment above his motorcycle business in Redcar. The house in Eston was then used to lay out the plans and construct the frames for "Sunshiner". It was then; working into the nights with my good friend Tim Finch we started the dream.
Once the frames were finished, we had the house remodeled to make it a comfortable family home for the next two years.
We moved into West Row around Christmas 78 and the children were enrolled at the local school, my job in the port allowed me to choose my hours and so that helped me get things in motion. After approx. one-year working on the boat, voluntary redundancy was offered to those who wanted it, this suited our plans very well and I worked full time on the construction from then. Some of my work mates thought we were crazy and that we would probably not go ahead with it.
During this time I had offers of part time work running tugs & workboats for a local firm, Marine Partners, the partners Eddy Appleton, his family, & Dave Holmes
(who later bought a Sailboat & joined us as a cruising family), were a big element in this project becoming a reality. Their help and enthusiasm kept me hard at the job in hand.

The garden in West Row ran adjacent to the Hospital; it was said that I helped people get well sooner! Saving lots of money for the NHS. The neighbours were great and almost all joined in the spirit of the venture, even though their peace was often disturbed.
The family next door & Bill B even wrote and recorded a song " Ian's Dream" which they sang at the launching BBQ. All the friends who helped in the building were there (special thanks to Pete, Lenny W. etc etc)
The launch came in Oct 1980, a 300-ton crane from J.D.Whites was used to lift “Sunshiner” over the trees surrounding the Hospital (the NHS. had given up and closed it down), and our friends blamed me! TTTV & the Evening Gazette were on hand to record the lift which went almost without a hitch, two large holes the size of a small car were left as a reminder! Dozens of friends & just interested people arrived to lend a hand; Upex pies were on hand to all the helpers. She was then transferred on a low loader through Dorman Long steel works (all fees were waived by them) down to Tees docks, where the THPA. Through one of the Managers, allowed an almost free lift into the Tees.
Sunshiner was then taken over to Hartlepool to have the rig and the finishing touches completed, Russ Hodgeson & his brother Stu. From skutterskelf hall in Stokesley, were aboard, and without their assistance we might be still members of the Dockers club! (Russ Hodgson was in Antigua, were we met up with him again April 99, He's been around the Caribbean now for 20 years) He also built a steel yacht at his family home in Scutterskelf Hall.
Time was now drawing near to leave, and so we had to contact the school and ask for the kids to be released. The headmaster gave us his blessing; saying he thought it was a good thing for the children. The house was sold to Paul Turner, who was quite surprised when we left all our things in the house, (Complete fresh start). My mother and father gave us their blessing and we set sail April 81. We called at Whitby, where we had kept our two previous boats " Mc Tash" & "Hamran", some friends inc. Arty Coakley & Dave Wharton were invited down and we went day sailing in some typical unfriendly NE weather. It was with wet eyes that we left Whitby piers, heading for the sun.
Theresa had now to start giving schooling to Steve & Claire, She had bought a variety of books on all the main subjects and we think that our kids grew up with a pleasant and interesting view on the world.
After a brief stop in Southampton, we left for La Corunna, in Northern Spain, there we met up with a great group of "yachties" of all nationalities, and we were to keep meeting up with each other for the next ten or so years. 8 boats set of together to cruise the ria’s of northern Spain, we had fiesta after fiesta on our way south, we would hate to go back there as we may now be disappointed, these were some of our happiest memories. Our first winter afloat was in Gibraltar; I took a job with a local British firm who had contracted to build a desalination plant for the water starved "Rock of Gibraltar". Theresa worked part time in a local Restaurant, and Steve eventually was employed as my mate, his first job. We took the opportunity to send Claire to the local school and it was there that she learnt her first Spanish, she went on to teach English to native Spanish in Spain. The Gibraltar experience was great, with lots of entertainment, both in and out of the marina. We joined the military dive club and were invited to lots of shows laid on for the U.K military based there. Smuggling was a major industry at this time and we would feel our boat move each morning around 2 am. As the high speed launches returned from their nefarious business.

One day around Christmas I noticed two well dressed people in the marina, to my surprise it was another Teesider, John Spencely & his wife Jill, he was one of our last contacts in Mbro. He was all ears when I informed him of our intended voyage, little did we know that he would go out and buy a Sailboat and follow us, I thought I owed him money! We sailed in company, on & off for the next five years, last heard of he had opened the "Mucky Duck" on the A19.
April 82 arrived and it was time to head east, it was our plan to work 6 months every winter and cruise the summer, so we sailed along the Costa’s and the over to Ibiza & Majorca.
We decided to make this our base for a while, and then our daughter met a young Spanish boy and said she would like to stay. As she was only sixteen we decided to stay for a year or so to make sure she settled, she gave English lessons to local people and eventually became a resident.
Majorca at this time was a very lively place which attracted the international set, including the famous spy, Burgess, the great Peter Ustinov, and many of the jack the lads from all over England. One night we were robbed, we were in the local "yachties" bar just across the road from our boat, some youths went aboard and stole tools and personal items, they decided to spray E.T.A slogans in the cockpit as they left.
I was stood in this same bar one night when a tap on the shoulder made me turn round, it was Colin Finch from Stockton. He’s been bumming around for years, I went back to his boat and saw he had a sign hanging on the stern; it read: Questions answered, 50 peseta’s – Happy hour –two for the price of one! Questions of a sexual or insipid nature my specialty. He reasoned it bought his beers.
Dave Holmes & His wife Anita from Ormesby joined us here, they bought a Moody 40 named "Explorin", and we also had friends over from time to time. Pat & Ray Rodgers, who had been our close friends "Back home" came over and stayed, and this lead us to visit Magaluf, Mano’s & the night clubs, often till the wee small hours. We could see why they liked it there, but it was not for us, they thought we were crazy for sailing around with all these "odd people". One guy we introduced to them was Arnold Barker on "Blue moon of Sky", he told us: he left home one day and left cardboard cut-out of himself in the armchair, he wasn’t missed until the grass needed cutting!
Theresa and I took a job on an old 100ft Square rigger, we first had to bring it up to scratch, then we set of to the Caribbean I was skipper & Theresa the cook
We left in Nov. and on the first night we had over 40 knots of wind. The boat started to take on water from a loose shaft gland and the engine & generators were soon underwater, giant sparks were flying round the saloon! This is what sailing all about!
There were 9 people aboard inc. our friend Terry Stanley who came as engineer, the rest inc. The two owners were quite inexperienced. It was quite an ordeal, with one of the woman screaming and panicking, Theresa had to slap her to calm her down, we eventually stemmed the flow and made our way under sail to Algeria. After two days we were arrested and accused of drug smuggling! We were fortunate to have had the chief of police onboard the previous day, for a drink, he talked to the drug people and obtained our release. We suspect they were trying to get the boat for themselves.
It was with great relief that Theresa; Terry and I caught a ferry that night to Marseilles, and on to Majorca. The radical Muslim bombings !!! etc. (Look at it now on 2015!)had just started in Algeria. Theresa had kept 3 Mars bars which we all enjoyed heading out of the Harbour.

The owners decided they would stay there for six months, to have the boat repaired. They left the following spring, only to founder on a reef in the West Indies.
Our voyage on Sunshiner proceeded and we headed east. Our greatly loved son had made many friends in Majorca and after traveling one more year with us to Greece, he returned to Majorca, where he flew on to America and took a job on the famous "America" a 100ft+ schooner. He crossed the Atlantic on her and eventually became a qualified Yacht Master, which enabled him to get a job as captain. He was married and living in Santa Ponca Majorca, until his motorbike accident.
Our Daughter Claire married Dino Bertorelli from the famous London restaurant family; they have a lovely son Nico, 2 years, and also live in Santa Ponca. They have the "Airplane" restaurant "Bertorelli" near to Magaluf.
Our travels then took us to the eastern Med. were we cruised the Greece Islands and Turkey. I took delivery jobs to help the kitty; Theresa made repairs to sails & upholstery. We hooked up with Pete and Pauline Dewar (the whisky family), one night under the influence of Turkish "Raki" we formulated a plan to leave the group we were in company with, to sail over to Israel. At first light the next day we upped anchor and quietly sailed out of Gojek on the south coast of Turkey, we had a nice 24-hour sail over to Cyprus. While sailing along the coast, we spotted what looked like a marina; it was not on the chart so we decided to take a closer look!
As we pulled alongside the berth, an English guy came to take our lines, we were invited to his motor yacht "Super Jade" his name was Chris Drake OBE. He has a media company in Nicosia, and was the BBC Middle East correspondent. We eventually became great friends, and went on to share adventures with him. I ran his boat and the first job was to take some of the world press over to Israel, we were to cover the 4000-ton " Solfrini" landing there with 2000 Palestinians.
The night before we were about to leave, a bomb was placed under the Solfrini, in Limmasol Harbour, sunk! It was not too difficult to guess who was responsible! We were advised to be on alert in case of a similar attack on our vessel!
Our stay in Cyprus was very interesting, we joined the military flying school, and I got my gliding license, we had friends with a chalet at the Trodos Ski resort, they invited us most weekends in the season. The Gulf war started while we were there and we met many of the soldiers and pilots who came for R.R. After 2 years in Cyprus we took a job on a new 72ft sailboat "Kawatho" in the Far East. The Austrian owner Karl K became our very good friend over the next six years. Theresa and I took him and his friends over to Turkey every summer, then returned to The Sheraton marina Cyprus for the winter. It was during this time we went to live in Vienna where we attended a German language course. In 1989 I flew to the Far East to try and find a yard to build a new yacht, after visiting five countries we found a suitable builder and ordered a new sailboat. This was canceled after 6 weeks because of a disagreement with the builders.
During this time we decided to put Sunshiner on the market, it was quite a surprise when she was sold to the first Enquirer. One evening we received a call from Lebanon, a Mr. Bill Bird, he said he would like to come over and view the yacht for a friend. I booked him a room in the Sheraton, and he arrived that evening. We had been invited to a party and so left a bottle of wine on the table and told Mr. Bird and his friend, to enjoy the evening, he looked quite surprised that we were leaving him alone on board.


The following morning we were invited for breakfast in the hotel, where he said he had phoned his friend and recommended him fly out from the U.K.
While we waited we got to know Bill, he was a very interesting man, and an ex S.A.S officer and now the head of the largest add agency in the world. ( we have met a few of these “SAS” guys on our travels most were very suspect) Bill had all the graphic pictures. I introduced him to Chris Drake and they had some things in common, Northern Ireland & The Falklands. Chris received his OBE from his N/I news coverage; Bill had a tour of duty there. They had completely different views on how to handle both incidents, which made for some very lively heated debates, often aboard our boat.

One evening after dinner at the Sheraton, we sat in the lounge talking; a pianist was trying to send us to sleep with his grand piano! Suddenly Bill got up and approached the pianist, The next thing was bill banging out “Blueberry Hill” and all the guests (mainly Arabs) singing along, not only was he not thrown out, they asked him to play more!

It was while I was in Bangkok a few weeks later, I received a call from Theresa, and she in turn had received a call from Bill Bird in Lebanon. He was now acting right hand man in the Lebanese army, under General Michel Aoun. (He had just declared himself the president) Bill had asked Theresa to contact Chris Drake from the BBC, and ask him to arrange a meeting with the world press, both he and the general would fly in to Cyprus in a military helicopter to give a update on the war situation prevailing at that time, Theresa refused to get involved.
We heard that Bill was shot & his driver killed, shortly after this.

Bills friend Paul Kavanagh arrived to view Sunshiner and after only a brief inspection, he made an offer that we accepted. He stayed on for Christmas and we went skiing with him, he was a film producer (The Blue Max etc.) During this time he told us some great stories about Bill Bird.
Kawatho was sold shortly after this, and we bought a 48ft Motor yacht in Greece, “Faye Marie”. We required a temporary home as we could not get used to living in Vienna.
I then found a 1-year-old Catamaran for sale in Malta and Karl K and I went over and made an offer, this was accepted and we moved aboard. I also sold our motor yacht to a Maltese resident while there. It was then off to Turkey and for the next 2 years we cruised to the Black Sea and then down to Palma, for a winter with our Children. Karl thought the Catamaran was a good idea so he asked me to find a yard that could build a large luxury Cat.
This proved quite difficult, as the owner wanted a very high quality finish, Catamarans don’t like lots of weight inside them. This is still on hold, and we are still in constant touch.
We then decided it was time to do something we had been planning for a long time. While we were in Croatia looking at Houses for Karl K, we bought two tickets to the Good ol US of A.



We flew over to Washington and stayed with old friends there, with their help we found a motor home, it was 2 years old & 45ft long overall. After doing some alterations we went "land cruising", headed south to Florida, Disney, New Orleans, then on to Texas.
I think Chris Rea had it right when he wrote “Texas, it’s the only place to be” It was in the small town of Haskell, that I was asked to give a talk (in church) to a group of 50 businessmen! About the life of John the Baptist. This will bring some raised eyebrows back in the Boro. Seriously, we thought Texas and the people there were great.
On leaving Haskell we headed west again, it was at the top of a long clime up a mountain in New Mexico that we found our "Shangri La". We met up with some of the nicest "Folks", it was with their encouragement that we built our mountain home, its at 8.600ft in the Southern Rockies, the weather is the best we've ever found, (average325 days sunshine). Its over 100 miles from any industry, so clear air and fantastic wild life is all around, we have Bears every night (not to eat) in the summer, also Mountain lions, Bald Eagles, Elk & Deer. The ski resort is a small family affair, and then there is Ski Apache a great resort 45 minutes drive away with no queues, mid week, . We also found Snowmobiles and have two machines that we use almost daily in the winter; our house is positioned on one of the many trails. We have a motor home site with electric, phone, and toilet, if anyone wants to visit all you campers out there. The aliens of Roswell are 1 hour away so the people from Guisborough will feel at home. (only joking John).
Off-roading is great with thousands of miles of "legal" trails, also Horse riding. Just 16 miles down the mountain we play tennis right through the winter in warm sunshine, returning to clear starry nights up in the snow. Alan Hale from the "Hale-BoP Comet" lives in the village; he and many others have observatories in their Gardens, taking advantage of the clear skies. There is a great gliding club 16 miles away with good “ridge soaring” and great desert thermals.
Golfer’s come from all over America, with one of the favorite courses being the Lodge. there are two others (only in the summer)
The soiree here in the states had lasted 1 year but it had to be put on hold when we found our daughter was expecting a child. We flew over to Spain and stayed with them, I think they were glad to have the help as they are both working hard to build up their restaurant.
During our stay in Majorca I decided to start a yacht surveying business, I had been doing surveys on a part time basis over the previous few years. It was while I was visiting one of the "Super yachts" in Palma, that a friend mentioned "Dardanella". He told me he had met this very pleasant retired German, and that he was having a 120ft alloy motor yacht built, in Holland, he described it as being something really different with a view to a world voyage. I followed it up and arranged to meet the owner in Fort Lauderdale. We stayed with him for a few days getting to know each other, He already had 8 other c.v.’s so we just hoped for the best and went on to our house in New Mexico.
A phone call 1 week later informed us that we had the job, and that we should make arrangements to travel to the "Vitters" boat yard in Holland. Vitters are now a world-class builder having built a 170ft Sail yacht that was chosen as yacht of the year in 96.




We arrived there on the 5th of January and moved into a hotel. And for the next few months I got to know every nook and cranny of our future “home”. I then had to find a crew, which was quite straight forward, as this was such a great opportunity; many people made themselves available. Chas, the brother of our son's wife was chosen as bosun. Dave the engineer (Chas & Dave) came from an earlier "Vitters" Yacht, I had met him during one of my working visits to his yacht. His girlfriend Leonie, came as stewardess, all three had worked together on other yachts and so I saw a good chance of having a team that would stick with the job long term. One of the real problems in this industry is keeping a good crew together, Yachts are being built faster than crews can be trained, hence the problem. A good qualified engineer can expect upwards of $6000 per month,"year2000" so it’s a good industry to get into. Warsash naval college in Southampton, run courses year round for those interested.
For the next months we had our time fully taken up supervising the construction of this great vessel.
The team consisted of, up to 30 people; they work 6 days and many evenings to get her finished on time, In the end she was 4 months late due to an accident.. She is 121 ft long and weighs 280 tons, she is built to the highest standards, in Aluminium, (Lloyds A1) and is registered in London, building cost was around $10.ooo.ooo, and she has been acclaimed as one of the today’s “real” motor yachts. We have a range of around 8000 miles, we make 3 tons of drinking water every day, and there is also a tank for 10 tons. There is a range of computers that run the machinery, no steering wheels any more! We store all the world charts on 2 computer’s (4.600), She has 2 of everything for navigation, including two 72 mile Furuno radar’s. Satellite phone & fax also Sat C for email& weather etc. satellite TV is in 5 cabins. There are three tenders – 1 24ft fast diesel fisherman with wheelhouse 123ft modified RNLI inshore rescue boat with a 300 hp turbo diesel, and a 16 ft ski-boat. 2 sea Kayac’s and dive gear for 4.
There are full details in Superyacht Sept.88, Boat International July 99, and Boat Exclusive, for anyone wanting to know more.

The launch day came and 250 guests arrived, a 200ft mobile floating restaurant was brought alongside to accommodate them all. The whole thing was a great success, and we took advantage to meet many of the owner’s friends who would join us from time to time.
April 20th, its time to move Dardanella to the coastal port of Imuiden, there we take on 41 tons of fuel and stores to last around 6 months, the logistics of all this would surprise most people. 1000 can of beer, 200 bottles of different wines, 200 lbs of meat etc. etc. It was on a wintry, windy day, that we cast off and headed down the North Sea
Gales were forecast and we put our new ship through her paces, she past with flying colors.
A stop was made in Guernsey, to conclude some final registration matters,
A naval training vessel came along side and we made contact with the crew, that night we tried to steal their shiny brass boat hook but we were sussed! We were then invited to the officer’s mess that was our second mistake; the next day was crossed from the calendar. We sailed two days later complete with boat hook; they got some of our “t shirts”.

It was a non-stop trip down the coasts of Spain & Portugal, through the Straits of Gibraltar, and on to Puerto Banus Marina. We met up with the owners brother here, and had a few good nights out on the town, “Banus” has now found its place, and the old days of the RR & Ferrari set, have sort of blended in without being so flashy as before. T & I drove down to Jemena de la Frontera, near Gib. where our old friends Neil and Carol Wilkinson from Hartlepool run a yacht surveying business. On our return we set of for Majorca, where Vitters had a group of people waiting to do various warranty jobs, we took advantage of this 3-week stay to see our family.

A helicopter was used to take photos for the various yachting magazines that were doing articles on Dardanella; the pilot was an ex Viet Nam veteran, what a show.

We then headed of to Nice on the Cote d’ azure, we had a berth booked at the “Superyacht “ show, we all got tickets to the numerous events that were laid on. This is where the “other half” let their hair down. After a great few days we left for the Italian coast, we stopped in Elba where Bonaparte was held 1914-1915, and on down to Capri, this is an Island we all liked, so we stayed a while.
Over then to Sicily via the volcano group of Island, a visit to Taomina and a stay in the old port of Syracuse. This is one of our old favorites with its great market and fine restaurants. Theresa and Leone stocked up with all the nice Italian fruit & veg.
Malta was next on our itinerary, so we sailed on to Valletta, our berth was right along side one of our old yachts and the owner and crew were quite surprised to see us again. We find Malta one of the best stops in the Med. And over the years we have formed some fine friendships with some local people. Roland Duramahnin from S&D yachts invited us to his home for dinner; we in turn had his family on board Dardanella. The owner Wulf was beginning to like all this old friends bit, this is his first yacht and so it was all-new to him.
Summer was now here and it was time to pick up some of Wulfs friends, so we headed north to Corfu, we then took them cruising south around Levkas on down to the Peloponnese. We made a stop in the south and I called a Greek friend, he arrived and invited us up to Meligala his village, 10 years earlier we had been guests of the Mayor and attended a local feast in his honor, Slaughtered pigs, and a Russian fairground etc.
Jannis our friend had been asked to automate the village clock, as they could not find a young person to ring the bells any longer! He had stayed on in the village and computerized the accounts system in the town hall; the locals referred him to as the professor. We stayed around this wonderful area for a week, and then made for Athens to change some of the guests.
Athens was its usual hot & dusty self and we all couldn’t wait to leave. Off then to the “three fingers” of Khalkidiki, T & I have not visited this area and had heard good things about it, we were not disappointed, the usual strong “Meltemi” wind does not blow home here, so water-skiing was possible, beach BBB’s without flying sand.
The Russian, Greek, Romanian etc. Monasteries on the Easterly Isthmus
are incredible, they seem to look for the most inaccessible place and then go ahead and build fabulous churches.


This area is a self-governing state similar to the Vatican, Females are not allowed and this includes Animals, also you are not allowed to sail near the coast if you have Woman on board! We tried and a police boat was dispatched to move us away. Feminists eat your heart out.
We were all ready for a change of country now and so we made our way over to Turkey. We made our entry at the port of Ayvalik in the northwest, Turkish food and hospitality, was enjoyed by all aboard. Slowly then down the coast, visiting some of the popular places, arriving in Bodrum for a few days of night clubbing and general debauchery.
Marmaris was next and meeting up with all our old cruising pals, the gossip was hot for days.
Wulf flew off to Germany to see his family and he kindly allowed me to take the boat over to Cyprus to visit friends there. We had a quick sail over and soon contacted everyone, a great time was had stocking up on English goodies on the base and we wined & dined in our favorite old haunts. Chris Drake was still around and we took him sailing along the coast with some of his friends.
We returned to Turkey and put our motor bikes ashore, then a trip to the mountains. We visited a working mine and were given cay (Turkish tea) by the mine operators, these mountain are completely wild with fast running rivers and small communities living off the land, every place we stopped made us welcome and the people were so happy to hear us practice our Turkish. At one large river we had to carry the bikes across on an overhead wire, we now have some interesting video to show later.
Wulf arrived back from Germany and we set of east again, a stop in Santorini &
Ios then back to Malta to take fuel. After a few days we left for Majorca, it was a rough passage not helped by a broken stabilizer. After two days we stopped in the wonderful port of Mahon “Minorca” this really is one of the gems of Spain. Strolling the old town at night is full of great sounds and smells, a flamenco guitar comes from a half open door, we stop for “tapas” in the town square then wash it down with a San Miguel.
After this pleasant stopover we head over to Palma and more warranty work, this is expected to take a month so Wulf leaves for home and we spend as much time as we can with our friends & families, before heading of across the “POND”
Mid October and we’re almost ready to leave, we throw a party on-board and say our good-bye’s. An early start and its off to Gibraltar again. We arrive and find a berth in the marina bay complex, The marina has had mixed fortunes since we spent a winter here back in 82. The telephones were down and the electricity not working, still we took on all our stores and had a few relaxing days-touring the “rock”. The Arabs captured Gibraltar in 711; it passed to the Spanish around 1642. Admiral George Rooke took it for Britain in 1702, Spain has made a song & dance about it ever since, we saw plenty of apes, and its said that Gibraltar will remain British while the “Rock” has monkeys.
While we are waiting to leave a guy called Tim came by the boat and asked if he could get a lift with us, I asked him about his experience and he told me he was a computer “nerd”. So we took him along and he was a great crewmember. He made a home page for us, and told us his tales of teaching in China & India





Full of fuel and all stores aboard we head out through the “Straits”. The straits, flanked on each side by the Pillars of Hercules are 40 miles long and 5 miles wide the depth is around 1000ft; a current constantly flows into the Med. From the Atlantic we were accompanied by the enormous US aircraft carrier Saratoga, and once through she altered course for Virginia USA. We left the sight of Europe astern and making 12 knots made our way towards the Caribbean. 2 hour watches were set and it was an uneventful crossing, we watched TV, played games and sunbathed, flying fish had to be collected from the deck each morning and we did stop for a swim, although it was too rough most days. A few miles from Antigua we set a couple of lines and caught a 12 lbs Dorado & a 18lbs Yellow fin tuna. A large Sailfish was hooked but he snapped our wire trace! What next we wonder: to be continued