With building anticipation, the date for the first of our summer rallies had come around. We were to head to Yarmouth Harbour, were we would be eating at the Royal Solent Yacht Club. Despite the weather having warmed up a bit, the forecast for the weekend was less than ideal!
The turn out for this rally was as always high, we had 11 boats signed up and over 30 booked in for dinner. Many of these were also continuing onto the Spring Cruise, which was to set off on Sunday, heading west.
Carina departed Gosport in blustery conditions, but at least, at that stage it was dry. She had a slightly bouncy, well-reefed sail until she was west of Egypt Point where the wind picked up, and as she tacked outside Beaulieu River entrance she had 40Knts over the deck. The first mate was ess than happy about this and so they tucked into the Island side and made it into Yarmouth, where they found some other members with similar tails to tell.
Over the next few hours the rest of the boats arrived and once we were all there we congregated on Manketti for tea and cakes. Note has to be made here, Manketti is a large boat and so all of her fittings are larger than many are used to dealing with, however it’s rare to come across a tea pot so large. It looked like it could hold 2 gallons. The cake selection included an exceptional Bannoffee number, which went down very well.
After a chance to freshen up, we all met in the bar of the Royal Solent Yacht Club, a fantastic venue on the shore with commanding views of the Solent.
Dinner was served and a great evening was had by all.
A big thank you to Dave & Anne for hosting such a great event and to all those members who came along and made it a memorable night.
The next morning Carina headed back to Gosport, while the rest of the fleet got themselves ready for the crossing to Weymouth a bit later in the day, as they began the Spring Cruise.
21st-22nd May 2016