Dream

This is St Barbara V - she is the flag ship of the Royal Artillery Yacht Club. I say flag ship, there are only 2 boats in the fleet; her and Bombardier 3.

In this picture (pinched from a FB live stream) is St B arriving back in the Solent having just circumnavigated the coastline of England, Scotland and Wales crewed by a rotation of officers and soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Artillery, both regular and reserve. My final journey as a regular officer was ten and a half years ago when I was part of the crew to bring her back from her winter in the Canaries. . We picked her up in Madeira and sailed her back to Gosport, a trip that took 14 days. It was fabulous.

Her time in service is nearly up as she is pretty tired now and needs replacing. Countless Atlantic crossings, countless winters in the Canaries, the round robin months in the UK summers. She has introduced sailing to so many young soldiers whom otherwise would never have got the chance.

Having also chartered her for a couple of weekends she is also the boat my children have all been introduced to my dream past time on too.