Dame Ellen MacArthur, (born July 8,1976) is an English sailor from Derbyshire, now based in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. Ellen MacArthur is best known as a solo long-distance yachtswoman. On February 7, 2005 she broke the world record for the fastest solo sailing circumnavigation of the globe, a feat which made her famous. Francis Joyon, the Frenchman who had held the record before MacArthur, recovered the record again in early 2008.

Ellen MacArthur first came to general prominence in 2001 when she came second in the Vendée Globe solo round-the-world sailing race in the boat Kingfisher.

In 2003 she skippered a round-the-world record attempt for a crewed yacht in Kingfisher 2 (a catamaran formerly owned by Steve Fossett and known as ´Orange`), but this attempt failed when the boat broke a mast in the Southern Ocean.

Ellen MacArthur began her attempt to break the solo record for sailing non-stop around the world in November of 2004. During her circumnavigation, she set records for the fastest solo voyage to the equator, past the Cape of Good Hope, past Cape Horn and back to the equator again. Ellen crossed the finishing line on February 7th 2005 beating the old record set by Francis Joyon of France by 1 day, 8 hours, 35 minutes, 49 seconds.

Upon Ellen's return to England in February of 2005, it was announced that she was to be made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire becoming, it is believed, the youngest ever recipient of this honor. Ellen MacArthur was also made an honorary Lieutenant Commander of the Royal Naval Reserve on the same day.

Ellen is now heading up BT Team Ellen, a three-person sailing team which includes Australian Nick Moloney and Frenchman Sébastian Josse.

Ellen MacArthur Records

In June 2000, Ellen MacArthur sailed the monohull Kingfisher from Plymouth, UK to Newport, Rhode Island, USA in 14 days, 23 hours, 11 minutes. This is the current record for a single-handed monohull east-to-west passage, and also the record for a single-handed woman in any vessel.

MacArthur's second place in the 2000-2001 edition of the Vendée Globe, with a time of 94 days, 4 hours and 25 minutes, is the world record for a single-handed, non-stop, monohull circumnavigation by a woman.

In June 2004, Ellen MacArthur sailed her trimaran B&Q/Castorama from Ambrose Light, Lower New York Bay, USA to Lizard Point, Cornwall, UK in 7 days, 3 hours, 50 minutes. This set a new world record for a transatlantic crossing by women, beating the previous crewed record as well as the singlehanded version.

In 2005, Ellen MacArthur beat Francis Joyon's existing world record for a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation. MacArthur in the trimaran B&Q/Castorama sailed 27,354 nautical miles (50,660 km) at an average speed of 15.9 knots.^[6] Her time of 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes 33 seconds beat Joyon's then world record time by 1 day, 8 hours, 35 minutes and 49 seconds. On the 23 November 2007 Joyon set off in IDEC II in an attempt to beat MacArthur's current world record for a single handed circumnavigation. He achieved this on January 20th 2008 in 57 days, 13 hours 34 minutes and 6 seconds.

In depth interview with Dame Ellen MacArthur one of the most famous and respected sailors in the world. Ellen MacArthur speaks about sailing, boats, yacht racing, and the Ellen MacArthur Trust.

read more about Ellen MacArthur | digg story

now for those of you who know me , you know about my problem with naming things - for those of you who don't know me, i name everything (i.e. my ipod: Humberto, my car: Dilbert, my boyfriend's car: Theodore, my laptop: Tracy, the goose that likes to sit in the parking lot of the hospital i work for: Tom).  now i don't really think of this as me naming something, but more so me having the ability to "feel" if you will the personality of the object in question.  So naturally after spending some time on my pal's boat - she told me her name.  Brittney.  of course, i thought she was lying to me at first - i mean have you ever heard of a boat named Brittney??!!  it seems to me that a boat should have a name more like that of an exotic dancer - i mean boats and exotic dancers do have a couple things in common.  they are strictly for pleasure and they take your money.  although now that Brittney and i have hung out a couple times together, the name is starting to stick!  (i know - im shocked too!!)

anyways - back on point - Brittney and i are becoming quite close.  she is showing me all the glories of being atop bodies of water and i do have her to thank for this amazing tan im sporting.  i promised her i would put her on the bloggity and tell everyone all about her - and she was pleased.  i have posted a pic of her close relative below - she's prettier of course, but i thought i would give you guys some idea of what i was talking about above. 

Anyways while I was camping I did somethings I had never done before.  First off on the first day I took the smallest boat out in the lake.  It's real small and doesn't go very fast.  You have to steer from behind and so I thought I wanted to give it a try.. Well it was my first time ever operating a boat by myself.  I was ok for a while going back and forth and back and forth but then I thought that I could go further out into the lake. Well that was a bad idea because no sooner that I decided that I wanted to come back does it run out of gas and I'm stranded out about 200 yards from shore! Someone had to take a larger boat (no much larger) and tow be back.  So much for boating...

The next day I went water skiing for the first time and wasn't all that bad.  Even though it took 6 or 7 times to acctually get up and stay up it was fun aside from the bruied knee and the huge knot in my back.  I was surprised that I could actually get up the first time, but I couldn't say up..

The next day I went fishing for the first time and caught some pretty nice fish.  One of them was a large mouth bass and some other small fish. 

After that I went back home slightly tanner and covered in mosquito bites... I'm itching one now as I type. The campfire that lasted until 1 in the morning was also nice amidst the half cooked marshmallow fight.

You'll have to click through to see how this episode ends.

Yes, I know... I'm a sick twisted young man.I'll make myself feel better by linking to the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

I have come across this great free guide to buying a RIB, the guide can be found at www.ribsforsale.com from the experts at JBT marine and its totally free ! All you need to do is subscribe for the guide and they send you it via email, but it doesn't stop there, aswell as sending you the guide to buying a RIB they send you some great information about RIBs, news and events that are going on in the world of RIBs.

You may think that this free guide is already as good as it gets, but its not, when you subscribe you get entered into a monthly competition where a subscriber is selected at random to win a Handheld Marine VHF, a fantastic piece of equipment to use on your RIB.

The Cops singer Mike Jaworski was ribbing John Roderick throughout their set, and in between songs he says, "John Roderick, I've got three words: Off the Grid" He did kind of look a bit mountain man like with his fully fuzzy beard, long hair, and erm...horn rimmed glasses? On second thought, he's more part the Dude from the Big Lebowski and part tenured college professor. Roderick is kind of the tenured indie rock prof around town and something of a renaissance man, as evidenced in the column he writes for the Seattle Weekly, but music is his strong suite. He's been around, put his time in with Harvey Danger and fronting a number of his own bands. He's finally come into his own with the Long Winters and now he and his band are reaping the rewards. After the Long Winters' 2006 release Putting the Days to Bed, they seem to be on the verge of something big. The only problem is recording a new record, something they are about to do. But before going into the studio, the band have scheduled a handful of dates on the West Coast and one in New York. Saturday night's show was a stellar Seattle line up featuring Boat and the Cops opening for them.

The night started off with Boat, and their first time ever playing the Showbox. It's likely the biggest room they've ever played, and they seemed pretty chuffed to be playing. The regular four piece Boat were augmented by a fifth member this night who provided a third guitar and saxophone. The additional fifth guy really seemed to flesh out their sound. It gave them a little more polish, and I don't think they've ever sounded better. They plucked songs from both albums, played all three songs from their new single Topps and even threw in a brand spankin' new song at the end of their set that seemed like it was written especially for the night, name checking the afore mentioned man of the evening.

Second of this Seattle trilogy line up were the Cops. I wasn't sure what to expect from these tightly wound post punkers. Their second album Free Electricity which came out last year is good. It's Gang of Four crossed with Jawbox, loads of attitude and lots of hooks, if a bit same-y sounding at times. After seeing them I can tell you that the Cops totally bring it, and they leave nothing. From the first chord, these guys where whirling, jumping, posing and just totally rocking out for their entire set. I thought there was now way they would be able to keep up their energy for the entire set, but I was wrong. Guitarist John Randolph made me dizzy with his constant whirling and jumping, and singer Mike Jaworski punished the mic with his intense delivery. Their showmanship was made easy buy the super tight rhythm section of David Weeks and Drew Church. This band have the songs and the chops to go beyond their obvious post punk roots and to the next level, I'm looking forward to what comes next from them.
mp3: The Cops - N. 99 (from Free Electricity)
[audio http://home.comcast.net/~finestkiss3/chansons/theCops-N99.mp3]
The Long Winters are Roderick's show, this is very clear when you see them live. Roderick is the guy everyone is there to see. Numerous women around me could be heard squealing such things as he's soo cute, and I just want to squeeze him, and I'm in love with him. That's not to say his band are just session guys. Even though there seems to be a revolving door with band members, the Long Winters are truly a band who tour and play on the records. The band seemed to be having as good a time as the rest of the Showbox, laughing at Roderick's banter. And why not, he is a gregarious fellow, engaging the audience between every song with bon mots a la Billy Bragg. In fact like Bragg, I would say he enjoys the between song part of shows just as much as playing the songs. He had some funny one liners like, 'look at all these beards. What, is Ballard closed tonight?' And he wasn't afraid to put his hair into pony tails or break into classic rock songs from Pink Floyd and Van Halen. He had the place singing Wish You Were Here without even trying. As for the songs, I was expecting to hear some new ones, but they stuck mostly with stuff from the last two albums. There were many shouted requests, that didn't get played, but I was happy to hear the hits from the last two albums, since it was my inaugural Long Winters show.

mp3: Long Winters - Fire Island, AK (from Putting the Days to Bed)
[audio http://home.comcast.net/~finestkiss3/chansons/LongWinters-FireIslandAK.mp3]
Three Imaginary Girls were there and have a set list, though somewhat out of order, and I have more pictures from the evening over at my flickr.

I am so proud to be a American, The freedom to do what you please is amazing.

People in united states sometimes including myself forget the blessing it is just to have freedom.

When I see someone begging on the streets, its hurts my heart i do prejudge when i see healthy people begging on the streets of united states of America.  Don't get me wrong sometimes I give to people on the street money cuz they are a lost cause I would like them to eat. 

People make decisions that either move them forward in life or back.   When people really wake up and realize that this stuff called time is something you can't get back it

 is limited.   Regret will start to kick in, you either feed it or start to wash it away by taking better action.

America is the land of opportunity NEVER Forget that.

The second day of the CST Composites 2008 Moth World Championships has been canceled due to too much wind with gusts between 30 and 40 knots continuing.

Sailors are getting extremely anxious after three days of not being able to get on the water and resorted to watching the movie Top Gun and running an impromptu seminar by boat manufacturers on the future development of the class.

The Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy race committee will re-assess the conditions for tomorrow.

Despite the last few days of sailing cancelled, Sam England (AUS), Clare Dallimore (GBR), Helen Rollinson (GBR), Katherine Knight (GBR) and Florence Beal (SUI) are the five female foilers in the event who are especially happy to be at the regatta.

The girls are looking forward to taking on the guys in the racing and think they can give them a run for their money.

Sam England (AUS): 'It's a physical boat to sail, but heaps of fun. Both the sailing and the social aspect of the class are better than most classes, and as long as your willing to put the time in, it's a great class for female sailors because you don't need to be heavy, just fit and have the skills.'

The moth class sailboat is as diverse in sailors (the youngest is 17 the oldest 65) as it is in boat designs. New boats coming on the market include a low cost entry level version of the Bladerider – the FX – and cut down sails have long been an option in high winds. Katherine Knight (GBR) has a 7 square metre KA sail that some of the guys are looking enviously at given the 40 knot winds.

www.moth-sailing.org

Many of you may be wondering, what's up with our site? Well we are in the middle of making it the most rad site ever, but these things take time. Feel free to send in any suggestions for the site. We won't use any of them, but at least you can feel like you are a part of something really exciting and you can tell all your friends how cool you are. I'm joking of course, you are way cooler if you act like your not cool, it sounds weird, but it's the truth. If you act like your cool, people won't like you. But you have to act kinda cool, just not like really, really cool. You'll figure it out. Good luck with that.

If you start wearing NSS shoes, most people will think you are super duper cool. That's just the way it is.

Ships Deck 158/365, originally uploaded by Gallery32/Chocolata.

It was an inside day today, as it was rainy and blah. I was going through some of my old photographs and came across this photo that I took on a cruise to Nova Scotia. I like the simplicity of the empty chairs and the silhouette of the man in the door window. I have never noticed him before. Kinda creepy but I think it adds some drama to the photo.

Hope for Sunshine!

T

Next week, starting July 16th, Wednesday is the Virgin del Carmen Festival on Taboga Island. This year it is a special event because it is the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the image of the Virgin del Carmen. I was at the IPAT offices today and they told me on Wednesday, 16th of July there will be a boat parade. Mainly attended by locals since it is midweek and many of us do work during the week. On the weekend there will be events in the village and special services in the church

The Virgin del Carmen has a long history of protecting the Island of Taboga and its inhabitants. The villagers of San Pedro (the village of Taboga) have an intense and sentimental attachment to her, their protector. Find out more about Virgen Del Carmen here: http://www.cerritotropicalpanama.com/stories.html

See you there!
Cerrito Tropical Panama
Email: info@erritotropicalpanama.com
Tel: 6489-0074

Below, find a Spanish version of the story of the Virgin provided to me by Alvaro Gonzalez of Taboga:

Fue en 1513 que los conquistadores españoles vieron por primera vez a la isla de Taboga, el adelantado del Mar del Sur, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, poco después de “descubrir” el Mar del Sur en su ruta hacia tierra firme.

La bautizó como isla de San Pedro, como los nativos la llamaban Haboga, los españoles le añadieron la “T” inicial y le llamaron isla San Pedro de Taboga.

En 1524, el canónigo Hernando de Luque funda el 29 de junio, el pueblo español de San Pedro de Taboga, ya que el pueblo indígena que existió en la isla fue destruido por Gonzalo de Badajoz en 1515.

Taboga, como puerto de la ciudad de Panamá, sufrió de los ataques de piratas, que en el siglo XVIII atacaron al Istmo de Panamá, principalmente a la ciudad de Panama, con su consiguiente destrucción.

La población de la isla, atemorizada por estos constantes ataques, ya que la isla de Taboga se convirtió en lugar de descanso y refugio de dichos piratas, solo les quedaba esconderse para preservar la vida. Un día de a mediado de ese siglo XVIII, ante el inminente ataque de dichos piratas, la población armada de palos y piedras se escondieron para enfrentarse a los atacantes, vieron en la playa a una mujer que en posición desafiante esperaba a los asaltantes. Cuentan que los piratas al ver a esta mujer, que parecía comandar a un grupo armado, desistieron del ataque y se fueron. Los pobladores sin saber lo que había sucedido fueron a la iglesia del pueblo a dar gracias a Dios, pero al llegar a la misma, vieron huellas de pies mojados con arena que se dirigían desde la puerta hacia el altar, encontrando el manto y pies de la virgen del Carmen mojados y embarrados de arena. Dijeron que esa era la mujer que los protegió en la playa, desde ese día, el pueblo de Taboga la nombró su Santa Patrona y Protectora de Taboga.

Esta creencia se fue acrecentando, llegando hasta inicio del siglo XX, cuando el pueblo de Taboga se organizó y decidió colocar en el Altar Mayor, en sitio de honor, la imagen de la Bienaventurada Virgen Maria del Monte Carmelo, la Virgen del Carmen.

Esta imagen fue adquirida en Francia, no en España como era la costumbre, sus ojos no son pintados como la mayoría de las imágenes, son de vidrio dando la sensación de vida.

En 1908 fue traslada de la ciudad de Panamá a la isla de Taboga en la “balandra” (embarcación de vela) del señor Horacio Rivera, conocido en Taboga como “Chovera”.

El día exacto de su arribo a Taboga se ha perdido en el tiempo, ya que los testigos de este acontecimiento no existen. Puedo citar palabras de Serafina Vásquez de Rivera, tía Fina, quien formó, junto a sus cuñadas, parte del comité de adquisición de esta imagen. Me contó que “fue un día muy grande para Taboga, desde que fue avistada la balandra detrás del Morro, la población se congregó en la playa, cuando la balandra llegó a la playa, las campanas de la iglesia empezaron a repicar, una algarabía de alegría se formó en la playa que fue interrumpida por un silencio, ya que no veían por ninguna parte la imagen, ya que estaba dentro de una gran caja, cuando la caja fue puesta en suelo tabogano y se abrió”, proseguía tía Fina muy emocionada, “la alegría fue mayor, en hombros fue llevada hacia la iglesia, fue la primera procesión con dicha imagen”, siempre me recalcaba, “fue quizás el día mas alegre que ha vivido Taboga, ver a niños, jóvenes, adultos y viejos, gritar de alegría, las campanas no dejaron de repicar todo el día, el gran anhelo de Taboga se había cumplido, tener en sitio de honor a la imagen de su Madre Celestial y protectora de Taboga y sus habitantes.”

Cuatro años después de este acontecimiento, fue sacada en procesión, el 16 de julio de 1912, desde esa fecha no ha recorrido las calles de Taboga, para este efecto hay dos imágenes mas pequeña, una para la procesión en tierra y otra para la procesión acuática.

Esta historia de la aparición de la virgen, que ha sido transmitida de generación en generación, como una leyenda hasta nuestro días, quizás sea tomada como poco creíble, ya que hay muchos datos sin sustentación histórica formal. Como sociólogo y perteneciente al pueblo de Taboga, veo la gran importancia de esta creencia que nos ha mantenido Unidos a través del tiempo, esta piedad popular nos ha mantenido fiel a la palabra de su hijo, Jesucristo.

No perdamos tiempo en el pasado, en tratar de comprobar la existencia de este hecho, aprovechemos el presente en aumentar nuestra Fe, para que en UNIDAD podamos enfrentarnos a este futuro que parece incierto.

Taboga posee excepcional posición geográfica, belleza natural, una riqueza histórica, turística y una noble población, lo importante, que su creencia y su Fe la mantienen viva, desafiando a los tiempos, ya sean buenos o malos.

Que este centenario sea el inicio de mirar hacia nosotros mismos, que todos sigamos el ejemplo de 1908, que unidos, sin ninguna distinción pudieron poner en sitial de honor, no solo a su Santa Patrona, sino a Taboga.

Captain of the S.S. Rabid must...

1) ...be able to perform MR-CPR (Magical Rectal-Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation).

2) ...have an ongoing sexual relationship with water.

3) ...be able to lift large Haitian women into over sized cereal bowls.

4) ...eat nothing but Earth Worms marinated in pureed duck dung.

5) ...come from a family of heathens who enjoy their milk curdled and their women deceased.

6) ...have a six pound tumor in either testicle or either ovary and be willing to showcase it at formal dinners on the vessel.

7) ...have had at least one sex change operation in the last twenty minutes.

9) ...be sexually incandescent and genitally scalding to the touch.

10) ...be able to buck a nude four year old off his/her back.

11) ...have the ability to use a graphite, deep-sea fishing rod to impregnate him or herself with the sperm of a struggling Disney actor recently terminated for spreading chlamydia at the studios day care.

These are just a few of the characteristics and abilities needed to captain the S.S. Rabid for life.  There is still a mandatory oral "interview" and some official scores needed from the Captains Cock Combine in Prague in order to get hired.

Doctors, students, teachers, secretaries and a taxi driver are among the crew members who are nearing the end of their challenge.  Onboard each yacht is just one professional, the skipper, whose role it is to lead the team to victory. The crew is all amateurs, nearly forty percent of whom had no sailing experience when they began this adventure ten months ago. National pride is at stake as the Clipper Race is the longest race in the world where cities and nations go head to head.

The fleet’s arrival in Liverpool on Saturday coincided with the height of the city’s celebrations as European Capital of Culture 2008 and thousands of supporters are expected to line the banks of the River Mersey to welcome the teams back home.

On Saturday the program was as follows (all times in GMT):

Early AM - First yachts to finish at the Bar buoy in River Mersey

0830 - Start of Liverpool 08 Dash up the River Mersey to Dukes Mast (media boat available)

1115 - Parade of sail with cannon fired in honour of each of the ten yachts

1145 - Fleet enters Canning Half Tide Dock

1300 - Prizegiving for Race 14 in Canning Half Tide Dock

1400 – Fleet enters Albert Dock

1415 - Prizegiving for Liverpool 08 Dash and overall race in Albert Dock

For everyone onboard each boat this final race is a poignant moment. Sailing round the world is an unprecedented achievement – more people have climbed Mount Everest than have raced yachts around the world.  The last short race, which culminates with the fleet’s arrival in Liverpool’s famous Albert Dock on Saturday, is the climax of this once in a lifetime adventure.
Clipper 07-08 started in Liverpool on 16 September 2007 and over the last ten months the teams have circumnavigated the globe, crossing the Atlantic three times, the Pacific once, and sailing across the infamous Southern Ocean, with stopovers in 6 continents.

The Clipper Race is the brainchild of legendary yachtsman, Sir Robin Knox Johnston, who in 1969,  became the first man to sail solo, non-stop around the world.

Since The Captain is a pyrotechnician, he is busy this time of year. So we didn't see him much.

On Thursday, July 3rd, he and the rest of the crew set off a display here in our hometown, for the Red, White and Boom Celebration.

And Boo, Audacious, Flutter, Bubbles, Tater and I got to watch.

This is my first attempt at trying to photograph fireworks. I didn't know until I got home that I needed to have a tripod. Oh, well. Go easy on me, don't judge me to harshly.

On July 4th, The Captain was off doing what pyrotechnicians do. So Boo and I went to the movies with some friends. Wall-E is a real cute movie. If you happen to like cartoons. And I happen to like cartoons. Never grew out of that. Gotta keep some of your childhood.

On Saturday, July 5th, we went riding on our new boat. On Lake Wylie, in South Carolina.

And I took a lot of pictures. But I'll only add a few of the 200 plus pics I took.

Birds who build nests under the bridge.

Birds who build nests on towers.

An inviting hammock along the lake.

The Captain cannonballing. Almost completely missed it. Honestly, he had to do it three times before I got this shot.

Boo cooling off.

It was a relaxing ride. With no adventures. Except for the fact that the boat didn't get completely on the trailer on the first or second try. We had to back up and try again. Third time's a charm.

So did you get to relax any on your holiday weekend?

Because of the nice evening, which we seldom see around here this time of the year (Our month of July is usually a month of FOG!) But we happened to get some nice weather Friday & the most of Saturday. So I made sure to capture some of those nice moments!! :P

Dad got a fire going and I made a smores...which, of course, I talked about in the last post! It was so good...man, they really make campfires all the more enjoyable, haha. I only made one though, I do tend to find them a little sweet. If it was any other time, I probably would have made 'some more' ... man I crack myself up, oh my.. lol

We were up shortly after 9am on Saturday morning; we took advantage of the sun that was shinning! It was such a nice thing to see...Dad wanted to put in the new window, so me and Mom helped him take out the real old one that was there since the cabin was built. The "new" one is a modern one just taken out of my nan's house. It looks much better now. And Mom had some new curtains made by a lady in town with some "cabin-y" matieral she picked out in Wal-Mart. Now the cabin is starting to look even nicer ^.^

The sun didn't last all day...*sigh*. Surprise, surprise. That's one thing we weren't, though, was surprised. We could see the fog hanging around outside the bay and it slowly made its way inward to engulf the whole bay and surrounding areas. Before it did, though, I chased a butterfly around so I could capture this symbol of summer!! We here on Newfoundland's coast know that summer weather is out there somewhere! Fog won't be here forever! :P

We got up early this morning, packed away our things, and left to come home again. And I finally got to witness the dolphins frolicking outside the bay!! It was awesome; but I had my camera packed away then because I didn't think I would use it on the ride back home. I wouldn't have gotten a good picture anyway. They were certainly jumping around a nice bit, though..we figure there was quite a bit of fish around, since there were many sea birds flying around near them. Especially puffins! My town's official bird (and mascot(!))..such a pretty bird.

Tomorrow I start back up at the pool again. I don't have another weekend off now till August 2nd. But me and Lucas switched up weekend because me, Mom & Dad and our friends Eunice & Wilf are heading to Gander for the Cobb's Pond Concert (Great Big Sea, Hey Rosetta!, etc) that weekend. On my scheduale I was supposed to have the previous weekend off, but me and Lucas switched to fix it up for me. I am excited for that weekend; it's going to be awesome! And this Wednesday coming, July 9, I will be excused from a day of work because I'm heading to Corner Brook for my bracessss! I am excited for that, too! I know, I know, I will probably be very uncomfortable at first and hate it, haha..but I know the after result will be great :) I am looking forward to going back to work again, though, and hopefully it will be sunny. The only way to enjoy working at an outdoor pool is if the weather is beautiful!!

I took this on Friday morning.  I also managed to get a fair few shots in after work on Friday but I'm yet to go through them. Hopefully they stitch together alright.