24/09/12 - Tenacious

What a day! All crew were called to deck at 7.20am as predicted the gales had arrived! We had an exhilarating day at sea, sailing at times in force 9. At 10am a large amount of loud banging and flapping was heard and in such winds the main lower top sail had ripped. We were fast approaching the Isle of Wight. As the wind continued relentlessly plans to anchor near the island were changed and we headed straight to Southampton. Jules had the great idea to auction off parts of the sail. With the highest bid of £120 all was not lost. Just when we were all settling down for a quiet evening, we got a call from captain Barbara informing us that a cruise liner was in distress and required our berth. It was a long night ahead moving the ship to a lower berth.