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12/09/11 - Lord Nelson
Dated: 14/09/2011
What a great weekend. We have been a part of the annual Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival,which has seen some amazing acts – including the NO FIT STATE CIRCUS from Cardiff. They were totally amazing, dressed in pirate gear and doing an acrobatic act in the rigging,and on the yards, three times a day. Thr pirate king counterbalanced his lady,who performed a set of daring moves suspended over the quay,suspended from the course yard in a ring. He ran up and down the mizzen ratlines to lower and higher her as we all held our breath. There was a comedy sketch, involving a bungee fall from the forward yards,with Capt Neil advising them on tide times so that they got the bungee length right – I was glad when they were safely on the ship !
We had plenty of attention,and the open ship was very well attended,with long queues. Our hardworking volunteers collected over a thousand pounds in their buckets, and Jot and Ann did a grand job selling the Lord Nelson souvenirs.
We were visited by the local Rotary club this afternoon, who kindly presented us with a lovely new wheelchair,to use onboard. This was raised by a lot of fining of " bad behaviour " evidently, so keep on behaving badly and thank you !
We had a lot of interest in the trust,and the volunteers worked tirelessly to keep people informed and to encourage them to come sailing.
People have been coming and going all weekend, but now we are left with a small crew to help us take the ship around to London .
A few are new to the ship and looking forward to the adventure, and we are bonding in the bar – and as Cookie is telling his Biddle joke for the hundredth time….. maybe it’s bedtime !
12 September
It is pretty blowy in harbour,and on arriving for breakfast we were told that we won’t be sailing today,as Force 8 winds would be hitting us on the nose if we did.
Unfortunate Fred, a relief cook and volunteer BM Rob can’t manage the extra day off, but luckily the rest of the crew can. Also goodbye to one of our loyal cadets,Ben,as it is back to college for him. So today will be a maintenance day, and a chance to do safety briefings and we will hopefully get away tomorrow. Will be in touch !