Our second family visit was from Kathy and Jonathan, coming to see us from Kingston (not Jamacia). The visit was actually planned for September of last year, but with bad weather and some boat issues, the original visit was cancelled. Almost a year on, and fully equipped for the roughest of seas and the worst of weather came Jonathan and Kathy with book and bikini.
We has 3 fantastic days of sunshine and the record warmest of weather. The wind varied from 0 - 15 knots and our sailing speed also varied from 0 to 7 knots - bit as we were in no real hurry to go anywhere, even 1 knot of speed was very pleasant and quite exciting as we burned off other vessels who were going even slower than us. The regatta even needed a speed boat to get them home !
We anchored one night close to Enkhuizen where the warm evening attracted a large number of mosquitos to share our fun. Try as they might, they had no chance to share our magnum bottle of rose, which slightly chilled was just heaven and a perfect accompaniment to our dinner.
The water was so warm that everyone swam - a first for us all in the IJsselmeer ! There was another wonderful sunset to make sure that the bottle of rose was finished.
The second evening was spent close to Stavoren where the slightly stronger wind kept the mosquitoes down and our evening was cooler, but slightly more relaxed.
The last day on the water was with a perfect wind, almost no waves and an excellent sail - one of the best, Jonathan says, he has had in his whole life. It was truly a great day's sailing with great speeds of up to 7-8 knots, sunshine, beer and great company. (Un)fortunately there was no need for the heavy weather gear, but maybe we will make Jonathan happy another day with rain, gale force winds and a double digit speed.
Towards the end of the afternoon we headed for home and battled our way through the locks, with a myriad of other boats (many filled with Dutch beauties) back to our mooring spot at the Contest Boatyard.
Our departing dinner was at The Artiste - our favourite restaurant in Medemblik, which was also the location of our wedding party on 12-12-12. Dinner, as always, was excellent.
Farewell Jonathan and Kathy, we look forwards to seeing you soon in Cowes as we start to make our way south for the winter.