13/06/15 LN869

Voyage day 7, 12th June, Douglas Isle of Man.

Today’s the big day, the Blue Ribband event of not just the Isle of Man TT, but of road racing in the whole world; The Senior TT Race.

1,000cc race motorcycles, 200+MPH on the long mountain straights, and raced by all the big names; John McGuinness, Michael Dunlop, Ian Hutchinson, Guy Martin, to name a few.

Race day starts hot & sunny (good for lap records!), with the big race being warmed up by the lightweight class, 650cc twin cylinder machines. No idea why they are called lightweight as they’d really hurt if one fell on you… Anyway, great machines, ear bleeding loud.

About 15 of us from Nellie set off to Quarter Bridge to watch, great tight righthander followed by a long straight. More importantly, there’s a burger bar and a pub right on the course!

The JST ‘expedition’ looked like something out of a war zone in that we had about 50% of our limbs working – dead handy for pushing our way through the crowds!

From a couple of vantage points at Quarter Bridge and Braddan, the JST crew enjoyed a great days racing, loud bikes, squealing tyres, brave, brave racers and a couple of quiet pints – life doesn’t get much better.

Well done to John Mcguinness for wininng the Senior TT and for setting a new outright lap record even though most of the pundits had ruled him out this year. So he’s just like the JST voyage crew – excelling and proving others wrong just when they think you can’t do something.

Cheers all

Andy (Leggo at sea) Spark,

JST Ship Operations Manager & Forward Port watch member.