Blessed with sunshine and light winds, the annual rally at Shepards Wharf was attended by 11 Maxis and 25 crew.   As before, Shepards had us raft up and non-Maxi boats were moved away to ensure a convivial rally atmosphere.   Organized this year by Andy and Pam Verdon in Ariam, the other yachts were Pell Mell (Sarah and Peter O’Donnell), Suive (Richard and Lorraine Sams, with Rod and Carole Minkey aboard), Genepy (Tricia and Richard Morrison), Walk of Life (Peter and Joan Lloyd), Blue Lightning (Peter and Sarah Sands), Moondust (Rob and Julie Powter) and, joining a Maxi rally for the first time, Kevin Manville in Eye of Horus and Tony and Therese Rice in Freya.  Bill MacFarlane elected to leave Out of the Blue on her berth in East Cowes, but made sure that he did not miss the pontoon party!   A slightly surprised Gavin and Clarissa berthed alongside in Amazing Grace and, as MOA members, found themselves invited to (and already paying for) the pontoon party.  As the sun went down, the Cowes water taxis ferried the team to UKSA where dinner was served, followed by a short talk on the amazing work done by the charity.  The extremely reasonable price for dinner included a donation per-head to UKSA, which many people topped up with a further offering.  The MOA enjoys an excellent relationship with UKSA, which provides an ideal facility for this kind of event. Without losing anyone into the Medina, the water taxis returned us in the dark to Shepards, in time for cocoa and bedtime stories.   Good sailing conditions the following morning saw the participants sail away, some with cruising chutes up all the way to Chichester!  A really nice final rally for the season.

MOA Cherbourg Rally Weekend 23/24^th June 2018

Forecast: Sun, very little wind, hot

Pretty good forecast – it would have been nice to have a bit more wind but at least we all had good crossings:

There were 7 boats with 19 sailors attending the rally in Cherbourg with a variety of passages from the Solent area.

Out of the Blue travelled from East Cowes to Cherbourg on Friday 22^nd

Asante and Blue Lightening left Hamble about 6.30pm on Friday 22^nd for a night crossing – with a  good sail down the Western Solent and around the Needles, then the wind died giving a very calm motor overnight arriving in Cherbourg about 8.30 am. A very clear night with both Mars & Jupiter lighting up the skies along with a bright moon made visibility good.

Figure 1- Passing Hurst Castle on Friday Night

The remaining boats sailed across on Saturday, Moondust and Leda of Hamble having gathered at Yarmouth on Friday evening set out from there, Lapis Lady set off from Portsmouth and Walk of Life crossed from Poole having picked up crew there on the Friday, all arriving late afternoon/early evening.

The plan for berthing together on J pontoon was disrupted and the early arrivals were moved off due to a Coastguard demo and some expected dignitaries. There had clearly been some communication issues within the marina’s booking system but in the end they found us 7 finger berths close together on P pontoon. A bit further to the showers but no rafting so it all worked well and the marina staff were very apologetic!

Following a quick trip to the supermarket for supplies there was a “pontoon” party aboard Asante:

Figure 2 – “Pontoon” Party

Following plenty of French wine and nibbles people went off independently to find some food! And then a good night’s sleep.

On Sunday lunch was arranged in “L’Equipage” restaurant at the marina. As ever with a large group there plenty of confusion in ordering however we had a most enjoyable meal with good company, plenty of sailing tales plus a few monitoring the England’s amazing score against Panama in the world cup which was going on at the same time….

Figure 3 – Lunch in L’Equipage

Sunday evening saw Moondust departing for a night crossing back, with Blue Lightning and Leda of Hamble crossing back Monday day time with another very calm motor back:

Figure 4 Glassy Seas

The remaining boats set off to the Channel Islands ready to set off on summer cruises.

A great weekend!