On June the 5th Ian’s trusty car
Takes Tina and Gipsy from Oxford far

To Lechlade where the slip descends
For Gipsy’s slide into the Thames

The swans now gather round to spy
The new craft raising its mast so high

Up to Inglesham first must Gipsy run
To see three streams turn into one

The weather gods looked menacing for my planned departure on June 12, but promising for June 5, so I got to Ian’s at 8.20 in the morning and he took me down to the club to tie Gipsy on the top of his Audi – poised like a war chariot, mast like a lance at the side. Very chilly, windy and cloudy, so initial shorts soon changed to wet suitette with jeans and a fleece

over. But by the time we got to Lechlade it was a lovely sunny day with scudding clouds and I stripped off to Victory shirt and shorts. Gipsy was successfully launched in the little public slip beside the Swan Inn, then, after much muddling of strings, I got her successfully rigged. It was now high noon. I set sail for Inglesham, the official head