Judith getting her ticket. Sailing in the Straits of Gibraltar with Jolly Parrot after a helpful lesson on knots in the Solent from Charlie.
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The curtain falls on the 2023 season. Looking forward to 2024!

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We spent every weekend in October day sailing from RSrnYC in the Solent, testing the kit and learning some more about how it all works. We are by no means fluent yet, but we're getting there. At the very least we know where all the instruction manuals are now and almost how to get at everything! We also completed the formal registration of the boat which meant we could apply for our Blue Ensign Permit and once this had arrived we could order a new flag and dress Atom accordingly. She looks very smart wearing blue! The blue ensign was hoisted just in time for RSrnYC's Trafalgar night celebration which was accompanied by the most spectacular full moon...and much merriment that needs no further discussion! We had booked our lift for Thursday 2/11 and David stayed down to Hamble after our final weekend sailing to take the sails off and clear the boat in preparation. David and Jonathan delivered the sails to Elvstrom at HYS Monday afternoon but it also became clear that Storm ...
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The start of the journey to the UK: Ellos - Goteborg 16/9/23 66NM

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On Saturday 16th September David, Judith and Atom set off for Goteborg. We said goodbye to Ellos at around 7.15 in the morning just after it had got properly light. Once clear of the islands we set sails with the wind almost on the nose. Atom was perfectly happy at around 32 degrees apparent but we found we were tacking through close to 120 degrees. There is no tide in the Baltic but some quite strong currents flow North as the land water finds its way into the North Sea. On with the motor until we could tuck back in behind the islands. The entry to Goteborg was interesting with an angry Danish Tanker who took exception to our very presence just outside the navigation channel and a nerve wracking passage under the bridge. Atom's air draft is 23m and the bridge is 45m, but from where we were it looked like the mast was in jeopardy...squeaky bum time, but we needn't have worried, the maths was right. We finally got to Lilla Bommen marina in central Goteborg at 18.00 to find...
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Ellos - UK Leg 6: "She's coming home, she's coming home, Atom's coming home!". Den Helder - Hamble 29/9/23 306NM

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We pulled out of Den Helder at 1030 on Friday morning into the most horrendous slop with Donald and Judith driving, the boat being slammed every which way and David at the chart table trying to submit a UK Pleasure Craft Report customs declaration. After a few hours it all calmed down once we got to deeper water, so we hoisted sails and flew south towards Rotterdam and the Maas. The journey to the Maas was uneventful and very quick. In bright sunshine we bowled past Amsterdam mid afternoon, had nice VHF interraction with a Scottish skipper on MV Karver, a rig service vessel which we called up as he was heading straight at us out of a wind farm at 20kts, and many cups of tea. We knew Rotterdam would be busy, but none of us had been through there before. On leaving Den Helder, the entire coast is a TSS with a windfarm inshore of it, so you can either stay right inshore or go way out towards the UK coast on the other side of the lanes. With the wind we had, only the inshore route was ...
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