Nancy Blackett had a successful first day at the 2011 Thames Festival yesterday, after an adventurous few days dodging the worst of the weather trying to get there.

Following her sheltering in Chatham, there was a weather break on Thursday evening, so she headed for Gravesend (on passage, passing by twelve seals basking on the mudflats, a lovely sight). After a bumpy night on a Port of London Authority mooring (with lots of big ships passing all night), Nancy Blackett and her crew continued upriver to St Katherine Docks and caught the first lock-in of the day on Friday, settling in a prime position. It was great to see that so many other boats had also managed to get there, even with all the bad weather this week.

Nancy Blackett is moored on the main pontoon to the east of the lock entrance to St Katherine Dock and will be open to visitors from 10am to 5pm today, while the Nancy Blackett Trust stall is a bit further along at the eastern end of the main dock. Yesterday saw a good number of visitors and drier than forecast weather, while today's forecast is for dry, bright, yet still windy, weather from late morning.

(Additional reporting by John Smith)