When we were at anchor we had to Chuckle, as we do not fly the British flag... And tenders would often, go by and you would hear an English voice say “I’ve know idea darling...... Its probably Eastern European ”... the flag in question is the flag of Suffolk ! And we proudly fly it!

Many Blue ensign British flagged boats have come and gone, we generally steer clear of them, “all wind and up themselves” apart form one boat Carpe Diem, with the Flag of St Helena, Which is where the skipper James is from, Hannah his wife is from New Zealand and there adorable kiddie winks Stacey, Josh and Jake. Turns out that James worked for Oyster down South, he and Rob know the same people.. Spooky or what !

We had very bad night, rob was on anchor watch, at one point Carpe Diem was less than 6 foot from Raven. James was likewise on watch, decided he should deploy moor chain. The next day James and crew were heading off, so the poor sod had to haul in chain by hand and his two anchors... But as we was doing so, he was getting closer to us... It was then we found out that he had picked up our chain, it took both Rob and him to get it up, and Hannah and I to keep the boats apart... We exchanged email addresses and hope to keep in touch.

Just before all this happened we watched the lone sailor of a tiny Leisure 17, flying the Turkish flag be towed into the marina and taken away by the Maritime Police. Later we saw the boat out at anchor, the Turkish guy and two Police men on aboard... We watched as they went over the boat looking at the lights, testing the rigging, then suddenly the police left , as they went the waved at the Turkish guy. Rob being an inquisitive soul, (some would say nosey) went over to the Turkish boat... After about a couple of hours back he comes, “your never gonna believe this”...

He was met by the Maritime Police 8 miles out, a fishing boat had noticed his nav lights weren’t on, so they had called the authorities, who went out, and towed in him....Get this they took him to shopping at Lidl, got him some food, took him to fuel pontoon and refuelled him, restocked him with fresh water and then set about re rigging his boat, mending his nav lights and anything else that needed doing!.... And what is more amazing this guy set out from Turkey 5 months ago on this tiny boat, he fitted it out with a 20hp motor (he installed it, with the aide of two photos he found on line) and put a ships wheel in the saloon so he could stand up and look out whilst he steered. He is on his way to London (Milwall of all places!) to meet some friends, but then has to fly back to Turkey for work... When Rob asked what he did for a living... “I design Game Apps for mobile phones”...

He said he could only do 2 ½ knots, Rob told him that he was not surprised as he needs to get rid of all the Goose barnacles from the bottom of his boat... No he couldn’t do this as he uses them for bait to catch is food.. He begged for a cigarette of Rob, as he ran out about a month ago... When asked what is was smoking ... To start off it was Tea, when that ran out, he went on to Oregano!...

Wasn’t making much headway as the wind was always against him, Rob said that yep it is this time of year and when asked what charts he was using...photocopied pages from.. A ROAD ATLAS!!!! Rob almost dropped his fag!, we have given him our Reeds Almanac.. He didn’t know about tides! given him our email address, made him promise that when he reaches ANYWHERE he is to let us know he is still alive... With that off he went grinning away.