Autumn Rally 2017 – The Folly, Medina, IoW

The weather forecast was looking a little wayward for the weekend; ex-hurricane Maria was due to make her UK appearance and strong wind and rain was on cards.

It takes more than that to deter club members, and the turn out for this Rally was particularly high, we had 14 boats signed up and over 38 booked in for dinner. The general consensus was that this was the biggest turn out that the Club has had for a Rally.

Carina departed Gosport in blustery overcast conditions; with 1st reef in the main and the genoa she had a cracking sail over the Medina River entrance, where the heavens opened and they go soaked! By the time they’d made their way up the river to the Folly pontoon there was blue sky and almost some sunshine.

Over the next few hours the other boats came in with similar stories of great sailing. At the allotted time we congregated on the pontoon for tea and cakes. There was an abundance of cake that went down very well and the recipe changed hands many times that afternoon.

After a chance to freshen up, we gathered in groups for the ferry ride in the rain across to the pub. With almost 40 of us, and at least 10 Sunsail boats in, it was very busy in The Folly Inn. The atmosphere was fantastic and at the appropriate time after dinner the tables were cleared and the dancing started.

The next morning most of us had a leisurely breakfast as the wind built and by mid-morning most of us had set off for home. Carina had a storming surf run back under head sail, even managed to stay dry.

A big thank you to Dave and Anne for hosting such a great event and to all those members who came along and made it a memorable night.

30th September – 1st October 2017