No proper bulletin this week as things are all too hectic; but this is to just to let everyone know that John Laing was safely launched on Monday, and this morning successfully passed her coding inspection.

All credit to Wolf and Princess Craig and the small army of volunteers who helped during the refit. If you haven’t been down then you can hardly imagine the scale of the effort it took to get to where we are today. John Laing looks amazing, in better condition than I have ever seen her.

There will be a shakedown voyage this weekend, and then on Monday we will start the first proper sailing trip of 2005 with young people on board – three from Lancing College and the rest from St Gabriel’s school.

If you haven’t yet booked to sail in 2005, now is the time to do it (crew bookings to the office on 0870 241 2252, office@oytsouth.org; sea staff enquiries to me). If the sailing alone isn’t exciting enough, you can always book on the boat simply for the thrill of using the new toilets……

Once again, many, many thanks to all the people who have given time, skills, enthusiasm and sheer hard work in recent months.

Happy sailing!