Ramsgate harbour mouth opens before us. Spring sunshine plays across the waterfront within. Warm and inviting. Stout stone walls still the chill breeze. Stargazer slips into their embrace.
We had a rousing beat out of the Medway and down along the north Kent shore. Twenty knots of north east wind drove Stargazer, double reefed, through the shoal waters of first the Four Fathoms Channel and then the Copperas Channel.
Past Margate Hook and on into the Gore Channel. The water deeper and bluer now. Our bows dipping to sea swells marching in from the English Channel . Misted spray blowing aft along the heeled deck, as we round North Foreland.
South we swoop, to Ramsgate. Sheets eased now. The conductor has slowed the tempo. Gone are the dashing crescendos of our day long beat. Replaced by a swelling joyous chorus. Wind and tide lifting us along in the afternoon sun.
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