cloudnine
New member
So there we were, last Saturday, mid channel, south east of Bembridge, laughingly "racing" in the RORC to St Helier in our Najad 390 trying to qualify the boat for this years Fastnet (it's a been there, done that thing!!) when we hear
"Securite, Securite etc Warship Westminster reading off 4 sets of 2 & 3 degree 2 decimal 2 minutes lat & longs of the "live firing zone" they were about to bombard with their new high tech 4.5" diameter long range, super accurate, sail seeking, shells.
"Did you make a note of that Skip" says I,
"Yeah, yeah" says he "nowhere near where we 're going"!!! I knew damn well paper hadn't come anywhere near pencil, and placed my faith in a super human memory and an intimate knowledge of the Channel passage planning chart.
At the time we "thought" we were going to St Helier, BUT given a vicious easterly tide and an F6 gusting 7 sou' westerly, there was no way we were going to make St Helier by Tuesday, let alone before the bar closed, 2 of the 4 crew were already a little - shall we say - queazy!!!
A quick (and enthusiastic) crew discussion decided a "holiday" in Honfleur far more tenable and enjoyable, so the course was set and off we went.
After about an hour, "BOOM"!
"Oh S**t" says I "we've hit something" although consciuosly aware I could feel no vibration through the hull".
"No we haven't" says the crew, "that was a cannon"!!!
"Are you sure you made a note of the co-ordinates???" says I,
Skip says (again) "yeah, yeah, we're miles away"
About 1 minute later, we hear another "BOOM" only this time I see a 20ft spume of water about 500 yards off the port quarter.
"bl**dy hell", says I, "that was a shell"!!!
Skip on radio,
"Warship Westminster, Warship Westminster, this is Yacht Talulah, Yacht Talulah, PLEASE confirm the co-ordinates of your firing zone!!!!!!!!!!!"
The reply came back
"Yacht Talulah, Yacht Talulah, etc, we have just fired our last round"
About 20 minutes later there was Warship Westminster on our bow making a turn to port and passing about 200 yards parallel to us heading north.
Do you know, I swear I saw the whole ship's company lined up along the rail with a combined grin that stretched from bow to stern!!!
Nice one lads, we deserved it!
/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
"Securite, Securite etc Warship Westminster reading off 4 sets of 2 & 3 degree 2 decimal 2 minutes lat & longs of the "live firing zone" they were about to bombard with their new high tech 4.5" diameter long range, super accurate, sail seeking, shells.
"Did you make a note of that Skip" says I,
"Yeah, yeah" says he "nowhere near where we 're going"!!! I knew damn well paper hadn't come anywhere near pencil, and placed my faith in a super human memory and an intimate knowledge of the Channel passage planning chart.
At the time we "thought" we were going to St Helier, BUT given a vicious easterly tide and an F6 gusting 7 sou' westerly, there was no way we were going to make St Helier by Tuesday, let alone before the bar closed, 2 of the 4 crew were already a little - shall we say - queazy!!!
A quick (and enthusiastic) crew discussion decided a "holiday" in Honfleur far more tenable and enjoyable, so the course was set and off we went.
After about an hour, "BOOM"!
"Oh S**t" says I "we've hit something" although consciuosly aware I could feel no vibration through the hull".
"No we haven't" says the crew, "that was a cannon"!!!
"Are you sure you made a note of the co-ordinates???" says I,
Skip says (again) "yeah, yeah, we're miles away"
About 1 minute later, we hear another "BOOM" only this time I see a 20ft spume of water about 500 yards off the port quarter.
"bl**dy hell", says I, "that was a shell"!!!
Skip on radio,
"Warship Westminster, Warship Westminster, this is Yacht Talulah, Yacht Talulah, PLEASE confirm the co-ordinates of your firing zone!!!!!!!!!!!"
The reply came back
"Yacht Talulah, Yacht Talulah, etc, we have just fired our last round"
About 20 minutes later there was Warship Westminster on our bow making a turn to port and passing about 200 yards parallel to us heading north.
Do you know, I swear I saw the whole ship's company lined up along the rail with a combined grin that stretched from bow to stern!!!
Nice one lads, we deserved it!
/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif