Cruising & Racing
Members voyages
Our next south coast rally is on the River Yealm on 14th / 15th September. The Yealm is a delightful haven about 15 miles west of Salcombe. It provides very sheltered moorings on pontoons and swinging moorings. Maxis will almost certainly be berthed on pontoons that are not walk-ashore.
It’s been great to see so many cruisers from France, Belgium, Holland and Germany in the Solent this year so I will circulate all Maxi owners by e-mail as some of you are clearly a long way from home and could perhaps drop into the Yealm while passing along the south coast. Some owners may not be on the WhatsApp group although I believe Julian keeps that very well up to date.
Paul Farren (pafarren@btinternet.com) will be the principal point of contact for the rally. Barrie Hallet (barrie.hallett@btinternet.com) will coordinate moorings with the harbour master when we know how many boats will be attending,
We have a reservation for dinner at the Yealm Yacht Club for the Saturday evening, to be preceded by a pontoon party. More details of these will follow. There are three other pubs close by, all of which we visited earlier this season and can recommend. There is a water taxi available until late in the evening to avoid the need for dinghying ashore. There are also good walks in the adjacent woodland to work off dining excesses.
Steve Harridge
Steve.Harridge@tonygee.com
After the weather and COVID cancellations in 2019 and 2020, the fortunes smiled on the MOA rally at Shepards Wharf on the 25/26 September.
Early morning drizzle gave way to dry conditions and autumn sunshine by the afternoon, to welcome (a record?) 22 boats and 47 crew to Cowes. The pre-eminent status of the MOA allowed us to raft up in the inside bay, while other rallies bobbed about outside overnight.
UKSA could not host us this year due to their large building programme, so the splendid location of the Island Sailing Club became the venue for the dinner. Many old friendships were renewed and several members enjoyed their first rally with the MOA.
The weather on Sunday continued to favour us, allowing some good sailing back to home ports in sunshine and a fair breeze.
Maxis attending were Aloni, Amy Lou, Aquarius, Ariam, Asante, Blue Lightning, Blue Rider, Cardellino, Caribou, Enshaillah, Eye of Horus, Good Time Girl, Lady Penelope, Leda of Hamble, Lookin’ for Kloos, Neroli, Out of the Blue, Ruby Max, Suive, Walk of Life, Wild Blue and Zuma Blue.
Dear fellow Maxi Owners
Your committee has booked the following locations for this season’s rally programme; details are subject to revision depending on COVID rules at the time.
1. 10th/11th April – Lymington (Dan Bran pontoon) – Cancelled due to ongoing COVID restrictions
2. 25th/26th May – Island Harbour – Note – New Date
3. 19th/20th June – Yarmouth
4. 4th/5th Sept – River Yealm
5. 25th/26th Sept – Shepherds Wharf & UKSA
Rally details, joining instructions and host yacht information will be issued in due course.
Regards,Richard M Sams – MOA Chair
Andy Horwood – Rally coordinator.
Your Committee recently had a successful Zoom meeting.
In summary
- We are preparing a 2021 rally programme using, as a base case scenario, a rally structure that respects “outside” restricted social meetings. It would be good if we could find some new faces as Rally hosts, existing members will help provide guidance and support for the role. Any ideas for new locations? Please email to discuss – membership@maxiowners.net
- The MOA “Whats App” has been very successful with 44 active participants. If anybody would like tips on the best way to use this app please contact any of the committee members. One to one chat can be done using the “call” icon on the top right-hand side of the page. We have had active input from outside the Solent which has been encouraging. Please take a look.
- In order to keep track of our membership (& boats) we will continue with our annual membership levy. As there has been no MOA rally activity this year, we shall be sending members a token gift, in recognition of your continuing support.
- A couple of our long-standing committee members, Peter & Sue Stonestreet, are standing down this year after seventeen years dedicated work. Peter & Sue have been very active committee members and their enthusiastic input will be missed. We thank them both for all their hard work over the years. They will continue to be MOA members.
- Next year’s AGM location will be finalised as soon as we have a clearer picture of the COVID lockdown situation. We look forward to seeing you then.
- Don’t forget to support the UK participants in the Vendeeglobe race. The web site is full of interesting statistics, Alex Thomson is 7th, 14.1 nm behind the leader, close.
Happy sailing
Richard Sams
Committee Chair