Those who read the last skippers blog will have been introduced to James and jelly, who provided a much needed tow for Koru at the weekend.

It was just over a year ago that we had a very similar experience with a block at Koru’s sea water in take. It happened in very similar conditions. We were entering Portsmouth Harbour against a spring ebb tide, taking down our main sail in a northerly wind, close to our marina entrance.

The difference then, was that we didn’t have any warning bells and intuition didn’t kick in (or I wasn’t listening!). Consequently the first sign of any problem was black smoke from the engine vents. Engine off, we then planned to sail into the marina, rehoisting the main and unfurling the genoa.

What I hadn’t seen while down below checking the engine and trying to make contact with James (our berthing master), to arrange a suitable berth to sail onto, was the squall on its way.

The result was a tangled genoa leaving little choice but to go with tide and consequently we were swept out of the Harbour. It was at this point that our match making service began. James came to the rescue and it took over 2 hours to tow us back to our marina, against the tide.

During this time jelly was perched at the bow, supposedly keeping an eye on the tow line. The other eye was firmly focused on James the rescuer!

A year on James and jelly have bought their yacht called Milestone and they live aboard in the marina- who needs Date Line ?!