On Wednesday, Nancy Blackett and her now small crew departed from Gosport and set sail for Buckler's Hard, the former ship-building centre on the Beaulieu River, in the heart of the New Forest, spending the night there.

Yesterday, she motored all the way back across the Solent to Hamble in the teeth of a north-easterly wind and against the tide, recovering a fender lost overboard from a passing yacht on the way.

Preparations are now underway for the AGM at the Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble tomorrow.