Air temperatures and spirits rise. Black rain squalls scamper across silver lined skies. Whilst Guernsey's laid back life plays out on the quayside. The southerlies are expected to linger for a week. Moderating as it progresses.
Southerlies are headwinds, for the Breizh (Breton) shore. However, this is currently less of an impediment, to Stargazer's progress, than the sleepy state of her skipper. Who is emulating Jim Brading, face down in his dinner, at the slightest opportunity.
Jim Brading is skipper of Goblin (Arthur Ransome's, real life gaff, cutter Nancy Blackett).
He arrives exhausted, at Alma Cottage in Pin Mill (Arthur Ransome's true home; two miles from Woolverstone, where Nancy Blackett is now berthed), after an exhilarating solo overnight passage from Dover. In Stargazer's (and before her, Hunter Ranger 245 Missee Lee's and Elan 31 Goblin's) well travelled bookshelf copy of We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea.
PS: Have 'tidied up' Ad Lib 45, the account of Stargazer's crossing, which was written in a sleep-deprived state. It should read more coherently now!
Picture Credits
Jim Brading words and illustration courtesy of Arthur Ransome
We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea jacket picture courtesy of Arthur Ransome / Puffin Books.
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