Buckler’s Hard on the Beaulieu River was to be our destination and my wife and I were looking forward to taking our Channel Islands 22 motorboat for a visit. I’d checked the weather for the coming week and worked over the weekend ensuring we could keep Tuesday free, thus taking advantage of quieter visitor pontoons and attractions. Our boat, Kelpie, is kept at Town Quay Marina in Southampton.
We’d not been out for a fortnight so were very cheerful swaying along the pontoons in the morning sun with a couple of bags of provisions. Sadly, this was the best point of the day and things were about to hit a new low…
Our troubles started when my wife unzipped the bimini that fully encloses our cockpit. She turned to me and said “smells funny.” My thoughts immediately turned to gas, diesel, sulphurous battery fumes and other marine dangers but then she said “aftershave
