Oostende bound

Off Thursday night (well early Friday to be precise) to Oostende in Belgium. Its a bit of a milk run of a crossing at 76nm, with just a few hazards along the way.... the first are the sand banks off Harwich, then the large anchorage and TSS roundabout, followed by the main north sea TSS and finally, the sandbanks off the Belgian coast.... none of which are desperately difficult to deal with, and in all but the roughest of weather can pretty much be ignored or at least considered way points rather than dangers.The weather looks not to great.... its going to be warmish at approaching 20 degrees, but with very light winds of between 2 and 5kts and mainly pretty much on the nose.... you can't have it all your own way!We're meeting up with a pile of others... in fact 12 boats in total, so should be great fun... especially as there are a few new faces besides the usual gang...We've guest crew aboard.... our friends Dave and Louise... they're new to sailing, and haven't done that much, but last year acquired themselves a little Debutante (or Tristan Jones fame) that was in a bit of a state, and have spent the last few months bringing her back to her former glory... she's looking very nice now indeed. I suspect D&L are also coming along to continue their rapid ontake of sailing knowledge... in which case, they've not picked a great tutor ;)The main challenges (besides the forecast lack of wind) will be twofold.... Firstly, we are planning on going in to the marina stern too.... its a med style mooring with a bouy 60' or so off the pontoon, to which you attach one end of the boat, and then you put the bow or stern against the pontoon... going bow to the pontoon is easier, but its a big leap for the kids, and even more challenging to get back on, so stern too it will be..... I'll spend half the crossing getting a plan together and briefing the crew!... (and will be removing the davits and tender before we leave the UK).... the second challenge will be one of space... the Montgomery dock is a decent size, but its a bank holiday weekend, so will be busy.... we are taking 12 boats, and I know of at least one other group that is going that way.... so space could be at a premium..... glad we're going on Thursday evening, and not Friday!We time this weekend to coincide with the Oostende maritime festival 'Oostende voor Anker', so its usually a lot of fun, with folk bands on the quay, big markets selling traditional food stuffs and lots of interesting vessels arriving and leaving....Really quite excited.... the first proper passage of the season!