Good Golly .....

Quite bowled over by your wonderful comments and outpouring of well wishing on my 500 blipday. Your wishes not only carried me shoulder high through the not-very-nice procedure, but also propelled my Blip onto the Spotlight page for only the second time. Thank you all so much.

I think I misled some of you. The panel was actually in the entrance to the Pallant House Gallery, not the hospital, although St Richards does have some lovely artwork.

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A day of mist which never lifted, not exactly raining but wet in the air. Dropped in Port Solent as we were passing, looking pretty deserted but two interesting boats moored on the Boardwalk.

Lively Lady was bought by Alec Rose when he was still a grocer in 1963, and long before he was knighted. He sailed her in the 1964 Single Handed Transatlantic Race, finishing 4th much to his surprise. He'd seen little of the other boats and had no contact with home at all in the days before GPS.

After this success he was inspired by Sir Francis Chichester's plan to sail to Australia, and thought it was a good idea, to go see his son in Melbourne. As you would! During the voyage he became becalmed, and survived gales where he almost lost his mast twice. But he survived and returned home to a hero's welcome. Not bad for a grocer sailing a boat made in Calcutta in 1948 built by two Indian cabinet makers. She is built from Burmese teak and paduak, for strength and stability, and is 11 metres long.

Next to her is Robertson's Golly, built in 1974, and sailed by Clare Francis in 1976 Single handed Transatlantic Race. Finishing 13th overall out of 125 starters, she won the Ladies prize, breaking the previous ladies' record by 3 days. Clare worked for Robertson and Sons in the marketing and market research dept from 1972.

Now both yachts are part of projects aiming to help young adults turn their lives around, via a round the world voyage.