We slipped our mooring at the crack of dawn - 'Red sky in the morning' - Hmmm. I left the iron main running till Cork Sands. Wind just aft of the beam - time to get the cruising chute out. Fifteen minutes later: finished with engine.
Bobbing along at a nice, sedate speed. We were averaging between 4 and 5 kts over the ground. We were going to get there. Maybe not any time soon, bit still it felt good to be under way. The wind was forecast to pick up by mid-afternoon, so we might still get there in good time.
Crew quickly settled in it's old routine of book and iPod.

Then, just short of the TSS: clunk - snap - and down came the cruising shoot. Halyard snapped at the top of the mast. What followed can best be described as 'frantic activity on deck'. As clew and tack were still firmly attached there never was any doubt that we would be able to recover the sail; it just proved (a lot) harder than expected. The culprit? The snuffer scooping up water as we pulled the sail in. Lots of heaving and ho-ing later we managed to get the sail on deck and stowed.
Just in time too, as if in cue, the wind picked up. From a mere 6kts to 15kts in a matter of minutes.

Genoa unfurled, and helped by the tide speed over the ground improved markedly. Stand down battle stations, resume normal routine. Westhinder Anchorage (very crowded) came and went. Not long to go now. Usually we sight Ostend about 10NM out, the landmark Europa Tower being very hard yo miss. Not this time, the entire Belgian coastline remained shrouded in very dense afternoon fog. About 2 miles out we finally caught sight of the Ostend lighthouse.

Sails furled and stacked in no time. The Ostend approaches have changed somewhat since we were last there, but other than that nothing special to report. It felt a lot like 'coming home'.
Crossed in just under 13 hours. Not exceptional, but not bad either.
Secured alongside with minimum fuss, changed and off into town. As time honoured tradition demanded, dinner consisted of chips and beer.

Early to bed - nice, warm satisfied glow (though that may have been the beer in part). Fuelling tomorrow.