MAD DOGS + ENGLISHMEN

Yorkshireman Ian Furby enjoys a magical week-long cruise around the Solent, including one of its most eccentric annual events

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Fellow boaters, my name is Ian Furby and I've shared a couple of experiences in MBY recently. If you've not read them, we live in “The North”, in the beautiful former fishing village of Runswick Bay, 7nm north of Whitby in God's own county of Yorkshire.

We beach launch from Runswick and so are a little restricted to the size of boat we can comfortably handle; our current craft is a Nordkapp Enduro 605 with a Mercury 150 Pro Xs slung on the back. I am particularly bad at naming boats, so she's called Six 0 Five and no it wasn't because I'm a tight Yorkshireman and didn't have to write her name on the boat.

It's often said that it's “grim up north” - well it ain't, but our season is somewhat shorter than in other areas of the UK's amazing coastline. Sometimes we only get eight weeks in each season. That said, we had an amazing August, with flat conditions most days and several sightings of minke whales and bottle nosed dolphins. Some lucky individuals even spotted a couple of humpbacks and a basking shark in the area.

I'm at a fortunate stage of my life when I've a little more time and freedom to go boating so when I acquired Six 0 Five I also invested in a quality road trailer, a stainless steel Vanclaes. The plan was to extend our boating season by towing her to where the sea state allows us to start a little earlier and finish a little later.

Having kicked off our season early in May this year by dragging Six 0 Five the 300-odd miles to Oban, enjoying four amazing days round the Western Isles, I thought I'd finish it by going t'other way and dragging her 'down south.