This is the third browser I’m trying so with luck there will be no more cliff hangers or typos to annoy me (and possibly you too). Well the cliff hanger was quite fun, I may do that again if inspiration strikes. I do need to change the language to English English though, probably OK for you but it’s trying to “correct” my spellings.

Last week was very exciting, we went down to see The Yachts! George was there on his Week 3 but I think he was avoiding us. We looked at the boats in harbour, both the 68 footers that they have been training on as below (I think, maybe I need to be corrected). George was there somewhere but we couldn’t see him or the rest of his crew.

And also the 70 footers that they will be on from now. One has been branded with the 2019/20 dates but as you can see from the rest of the hull she’s not ready to go out. Not all eleven were there so some may be out at sea or going around to promote Clipper at various boat shows. There was a road show in Leeds recently, not sure about a harbour or marina there.

The ones painted white are ready for their new sponsors, looking carefully at the time the old paintwork could be seen. The only thing that they keep is their registration number; on the training boat above you can just see CV7 at the front (bow).

Once we’d had a good look at these (John had to use his special Clipper pass to get onto the pontoon!) we caught the ferry from Gosport to Portsmouth to go shopping. My first boat trip this year.

The shopping in Gunwharf Quays looked very good but we walked right through past all the restaurants and shops to get to…MUSTO! The whole plan had been to buy me some boots (I thought). We came home with four big bags of stuff, not all of it for me. As well as my boots I bought a big “foulie” jacket and some trousers. John bought boots, jacket and more. I think we’re keeping the company afloat single-handedly.

We then wandered back to the ferry and looked into The Castle pub which is where the team all congregate after a day on board, but no George there so we came home. About half an hour after we left he told us he’d just got to the pub. Definitely avoiding us!

The other bit of news is that John now has a justgiving page to raise money for Unicef. As in Post 14, they are hoping to get to the £1,000,000 mark this time round with Clipper. I’ll get the link and put it up another time if you want to donate. (How much is it worth to stop me doing this blog??)

Next week John goes on his week 3 so I’m sure there will be more technical sailing info in my next post (or possibly the one after). He’s revising his notes but I’ve not noticed any knot-tying recently. I am now about to check this and see if it freezes or if I can post an entry with NO typos!