The marine scene at Hamble is huge and represents the epicenter of British sailing. The quality of cars in the car park also testified to the wealth of boat owners in England – the cost of a marina for a boat of Savarna’s size was quoted to us at 20,000 pounds p.a. There are several thousand boats crammed into  5 miles of moorings and onto numerous marinas and with a strong tidal flow and narrow passages there is no room for error. It was most enjoyable to wander around the yards and see the many yacht designs that we have only seen in magazines  - but still feel we have made the best choice!  Savarna was oversize for the berth we were on and as is customary continued to attract a good deal of attention. The Hanse guys here were fantastic making us very welcome and in advance had organized the various tradespeople we needed  - so by the morning of Monday 27^th the boat was alive with action as we had a boatbuilder do some work on the stern door which was hitting the frame as it closed, the Yanmar people trying to work out why the alternator warning light was on all the time and yet still charging  ( a wiring fault at installation it transpired) and the local Simrad expert trying to work out why the electronics did not interface – fortunately all the individual components were working and the radar was an essential on the passage from Germany  - although maybe seeing that there were 12 ships going 25 knots all within 6 miles raised the heartrate more than it would have done if we didn’t see them at all.

Hilary came over to see us on the Sunday afternoon and again on Tuesday when we had hoped to join 5,000 over boats on the Solent to see the Trafalgar celebrations. Unfortunately the weather was atrocious – raining heavily and blowing up to 30 knots. As the local Simrad dealer had to get the experts from Simrad themselves to check over the electronics and we were waiting for him to arrive the decision as to whether or not to go out was taken out of our hands as he did not arrive until late afternoon. He was very helpful though and in no time identified a fault in the wiring diagram that Leo had provided to him from the Simrad guys in Auckland. Hilary in the meantime abandoned us and got a ride back to Portsmouth with Geoff from  Simrad  and joined some friends on a beach to watch the fireworks. We, on the other hand, resplendent in wet weather jackets arrived at the local pub in the Hamble village a mile or so up the road for dinner and a seat by the big TV screen.

The morning of Wednesday 29^th dawned fine and warmish (??) and after thanking the Hanse guys (thanks Dominic and Jeremy so much) headed out into the Soent for a sail around the dozens of warships and old sailing ships before heading into Cowes for the night. We secured a berth in Cowes Yacht Haven  marina right next to Grant Dalton’s old Volvo 60 Merit which was competing in one of two regattas underway there. To walk around the cobbled streets and take in the atmosphere of one of the most famous yachting centres in the world was such that a  bottle of French champagne seemed to be the most appropriate way to celebrate the arrival of Savarna. At the western entrance to the bay the imposing  building of the Royal Yacht Club stands impressively with 22 starting canons at its base – it seemed most appropriate that we should have a drink at the bar and we figured that there was a good chance that reciprocal rights with the RNZYS applied. Walking up the driveway a few hours later, in the company of men in dinner suits and women in evening dress, should maybe have suggested that we were under dressed which did not prove to be the case though. What did prove to be the case  though was that with much wringing of hands the manager with the high pitched voice infomed us that the RYC only had reciprocal rights with the New York Yacht Club and that maybe we should try one of the other yacht clubs on the island.