The sail to Wooton may not be that far in miles but with a fleet including several smaller boats the Westerly F5 gusting 6 provided exciting sailing and an element of challenge. Given the conditions a very special mention should go to Sue and Andy in the 21ft Dolphina, they are new members who have not been sailing long and despite being rather overpowered on occasions they arrived at Wooton proclaiming just how much fun they were having. Well done !!
Our rally coincided with a MacWester owners rally (minor communications blip) so the pontoon was packed to capacity and in some areas we were rafted 4 deep, however everyone was relaxed and despite some concerns about the condition of the mud (boats have laid over at silly angles on the uneven mud) everyone moored up and dried out without a drama.
Eight boats is one of our best turnouts for a club rally and it provided an excellent opportunity for boats of all sizes to cruise in company. I can't do better than just repeat Geoff Taylor’s comments 'a really brilliant weekend .. people will talk about this for a long time'
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Neil with his crew of musicians on Binah took charge of liaison with the RVYC Barbeque team (just to make sure they knew to cater for an extra 20!!) and then contributed the last of his cross channel Gordon’s for the pre- barbeque aperitifs. Now he has to go back and get more !!!
After the Barbeque the highlight of the evening was an amazing impromptu concert (including a battle of the bands with a lone guitarist from the MacWesters) The line up was flexible and fluid but included Geoff Taylor, Steve Cox , 'Mad Busker' John Connolly and Irish Maggie on Guitars, Neil on an amazing drumming box (maybe Steve remembers the correct name!!) [Cahon or Cajon - Steve] and various members including American Anne and even myself on Neil’s 2 Jembe Bongo drums. What we lacked in finesse we made up for in shear enthusiasm. Mad Busker Connolly’s spontaneous guitar solos on various Rolling stones numbers , Maggie’s energy and Jude’s Fratelli vocals were all memorable in various ways! In the end the lone MacWester guitarist simply ran out of steam !!
In the mist of all this musical mayhem Maggie P and Sue managed to multitask between drumming and playing pool .. truly women of the 21st century. What an excellent evening .!!! Like the first IOW festival ..if you weren’t there then you will have to weep as you listen to the stories of those who were!
Despite a few heavy showers overnight, Sunday dawned bright and sunny with a Westerly F3-4. On Kouba we enjoyed an almost perfect sail back, flat water and 15knts of wind saw us doing well over 7knts and we were soon back on the mooring once again wrestling with the huge chain and ropes we use to keep Kouba safe at Calshot and 'gently suggesting' to a group of 'lads' in three 40 footers that rafting 3 boats on a private mooring or anchoring right amongst the mooring chains was 'just a tad inconsiderate!!!' Ah well !!
Once again Sue and Andy arrived covered in smiles clearly getting lots of fun from learning to sail Dolphina. Its really is so good to see new members getting on the water and using their boats, hopefully we can all encourage our new and/or less experienced members to come and join in and enjoy the support of sailing as part of a club rally. I think Sue and Andy will confirm that it’s fun!!!
Roll of Honour / band Line up: Binah, Ripping Yarns, Rambler, Brill, Jaycoo, Dolphina, 'Mike’s Dufour' , Kouba.