When we left you on Sunday morning, we were motoring off Brighton in the sunshine.
In the afternoon we were able to sail at last and made good time towards Portsmouth, shaving at least an hour off our original eta of 7.30. As we approached the Forts at the Eastern Entrance of the Solent the sun started to set and we started thinking nostalgically of ‘Nightfall’ coming to her home port at nightfall. Ah! As we turned to starboard, skipper had just ordered the crew to harden-up to make the the most of the last run into the entrance when we heard Solent Coastguard issuing a notice on the VHF to all yachts in the vicinity of the harbour entrance to watch out for a person reported to have fallen in the water. We communicated with the Coast guard in return that we would help to look, fetched our biggest torches, put the sails away, engine on and motored up and down looking all around for almost and hour until our torches expired. By this time there were many police launches, RNLI vessels and and a helicopter with powerful search lights looking, It was with sadness that we gave up looking and went into our berth to be met by our friends who had arrived to meet us. The Champagne we had saved and opened to celebrate on this special occasiaon just didn’t taste so good. (24 hours later we were to learn on the local news that a body had been found, having ‘fallen’ from a ferry).
However, after 869 miles, Nightfall is home, tucked up in Haslar Marina.
Thank you all for watching and commenting.
First Mate Karen & Skipper Tom
