Watching the D-Day 75th Anniversary Celebrations from Arthur Ransome’s Nancy Blackett
Nancy Blackett skipper Bob Page reports on a memorable day in the Solent…
Last Wednesday (5th June) I had the pleasure of taking Trust member John Bull out for a day sail on Nancy Blackett. To my surprise I had a memory pop up on my Facebook page saying that 6 years ago to the day (5th June 2013), I took John Bull out for a day sail on Nancy.
That time we had a great sail in the Western Solent before ending up at the YOGAFF event in Yarmouth. This time we sailed from Hamble up towards Portsmouth to watch some of the D-Day anniversary celebrations. We had some great sailing in Force 4 SSW winds, which gusted to Force 5.
During the day we watched a flypast consisting of Spitfires, Hurricanes, C130 Hercules, Merlin, Lynx and Wildcat helicopters, the Red Arrows and many, many more. At anchor off Spithead were British and Foreign warships and a Royal Fleet Auxillary vessel. Also in attendance was an American 3-masted square-rigger.
Voor de kust van Portsmouth, bij Ankerplaats Spithead, maken de Zijner Majesteits schepen Snellius, Makkum en Urk zich klaar voor de herdenking van 75 jaar D-Day samen met Amerikaanse en Britse schepen, zoals de USCGS Eagle en HMS Northumberland. #Dday75 #KoninklijkeMarine pic.twitter.com/n1YMTzrBaq
— Koninklijke Marine (@kon_marine) June 5, 2019
On gybing round to head back to Hamble we witnessed a display by the Red Arrows. A great way to finish the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
The Red Arrows create a smoke heart in an aerobatics display to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.
Follow #DDay75 events live here: https://t.co/AESBPBhPuM pic.twitter.com/0AsVwssL4a
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 5, 2019
The day finished with a cracking sail back to Hamble, touching 7 knots over the ground with the help of a flood tide up Southampton Water.
Nancy Blackett is now moored up in Mercury Yacht Harbour, waiting for a new crew to enjoy sailing her around the Solent.