We have been blessed with a run of fantastic weather of late and the weekend forecast was looking good. The destination was set for Bembridge Harbour with a BBQ at the Bembridge Sailing Club.
Because of the tidal restrictions on the entrance ,most of the boats were planning to arrive in the late afternoon to early evening, However, Carina came over on the morning tide and were tied up to the main pontoon by 0930 to have a relaxing day in the sunshine.
During the afternoon (once the tide was over the bar) the harbour started to fill up. Once all 10 of the Club boats had arrived, the Harbour Master had to turn boats away as there was no more space.
As time was getting on, the normal tea and cakes turned into Pimms and cakes on the pontoon. The plan was then to meet for the water taxi at 2000 for a trip over to the other bank for dinner. Drinks in the bar flowed and everybody enjoyed their spot on the balcony for a BBQ buffet service; with had a plentiful supply of burgers, sausages and pork chops, as well as salads.
Once we had worked our way through all of that there was crème brulee for pudding!
The Commodore then thanked Nick for organising the Rally as well as the members for coming along. He then got out his guitar and gave us a rendition of a song he had written about the Spring Cruise. There was talk of making it the Club anthem!
After dinner and water taxis back we all get together on Favorita for drinks and in some cases dancing, it’s a good things She is a big boat!
The next morning dawned bright and sunny and at 1000 we set off on a walk that would take us to some interesting places as well and lunch at a pub ‘just over the hill’. A pleasant stroll along the beach saw us at the lifeboat station, where we were given a tour by Alan, a long-standing member of the crew.
Lunch was booked at the Culver Haven Inn, so the walk continued. There may have been some mutterings of mutiny at the back by the time we got to the top of the hill, but fortunately the food and drink made up for it.
Some members of the group elected to get a taxi from the pub back to the Harbour, while the rest of us set about yomping back. In total we covered 7.5 miles; thank you Peter for a great walk.
By the time we were all back the tide was in and it was time to head home. Carina had a storming beam reach back to Portsmouth and by the look of the photo the Rear Commodore had a good run back too.
Many thanks to Nick for organising a fantastic Rally, particularly as his daughter had graduated the night before and he had left the family, hung over in bed, to come along and organise it. Great work, Sir.
21st-22nd July 2018