Yesterday, on the eve of my birthday, when we’d planned to have started our long sail bound for Tasmania, we were moored in the anchorage at Rockingham and enjoyed a visit from Tristan, Blaine, Jeanette and the kiddliwinks. It was good to have them because it’s taking me a long time to accept that I may never be able to do the long sails that I got into sailing to do – my knees are taking a long, long time to heal.

We chatted, played swam and generally enjoyed each other’s company. And Tom discovered his “little boat”. While Tristan was in the water next to Dusky Dolphin, trying to keep his two children safe around him, he thought Tom might be safer in the dinghy so helped him to climb in. Well Tom was more than safe, he was very, very happy to be the only one in “my little boat”!