Oh - bubblyrat - we have been neighbours a couple of times.

In the early 70's I used to have a little yacht which was kept in Gosport - sharp left, past the submarines under pneumonia bridge and slightly to the right. I had a flat in Southsea. They used to LOVE me on the busses with all the gear I used to move around.

Now I'm in Parkstone and I have sailed a bit up and down the coast on other people's boats. Not as much fun as having your own though.

My dad helped to move, pack up and ship home some 'liberated' yachts when he was in the RAF. They took the bigger ones down to the port to be wrapped up in sacks of straw and put onto the decks of all sorts of vessels, then they went back to camp on a motor boat - they'd gone up and down river a few times with some very pretty boats and then some Yanks went by and set fire to all the ones that were left.