Viktor and Inna came to stay and what a weekend it was. The Russians, as we affectionately call them arrived on Friday afternoon bearing gifts of sausage for Winston and bottles of champagne for us to share. It seemed like we were off to a good start!

Relaxing in the cockpit after their drive, we decided it was a case of "The More, The Merrier," so we called Ian and Jen and invited them to join us. Much merriment indeed as we proceeded to work our way through several bottles of excellent champagne, the discussions and debates followed naturally. Loud is probably something of an understatement as a group of six opinionated people expressed their views on many subjects including sex, religion and politics, those never to be discussed topics. It's all a bit of a blur but apparently a good time was had by all! The details were filled in the next morning by our neighbour, Mark who had been unable to sleep but had enjoyed (or endured) the raucous debates. Oops, always good to remember that voices carry over water!

While Viktor and Inna were with us, we decided to walk across the Golden Gate bridge. We had sailed under it, driven across it, flown over it and finally, walked across it. Until one actually stands on the Golden Gate Bridge, traffic whizzing past at great speed, wind blowing briskly, massive container ships passing underneath, it is hard to appreciate the immensity of this structure. It was awesome in the true sense of the word.

The weekend ended far too quickly and It was with sadness that we waved goodbye to Viktor and Inna as they left to return to Los Angeles. We knew though, that they would be waiting for us in Marina del Rey and that would make our return so much easier to bear when the time came.