Poole Rally 4-5th Sep 1999 

The Rally to Parkstone Y.C., Poole Harbour on the 4 & 5 Sept.’99 was a great success and the facilities offered by the Club and restaurant very good. The Cherbourg Rally photos were on display and a few words of wisdom spoken by Roger of S.D.Marine who with a few of his stalwart disciples arrived by … was it sand yacht or Mondeo?? Introduced were our newest members and our "volunteer" committee organisers for 2000; Sarah Huxford, Gordon Agnew and Julian Wise. Sarah is organising the Yarmouth, LO.W. Rally, Gordon the Rally to Cherbourg and Julian our novel event of a combined sailing l golf competition to Cowes. Naturally our Chairman was forced to say a "few" words and afterwards to introduce Gordon and his wife, Christine, organisers of the passage speed contest from many start points to Parkstone by sea and land. You may question was it fair?, car against yacht but a cunning formula had been devised by our team and prizes were awarded accordingly. Altogether we had in attendance 40 crew representing 13 yachts and for the benefit of our new members this compares with the 17 Maxis at Cherbourg in May.

Hugh Rowan

 

   Inaugural Rally, Cherbourg 29-31 May 1999

Our first Association Rally was to Cherbourg, on 29 – 31 May, where we had most of the 17 Maxi’s berthed together although the marina was over capacity. Informal drinks on the terrace and dinner were held at the Hotel Mercure over looking the marina. The following mid day the S D Marine team provided a "drinks & snacks" meeting on the marina park land. Cherbourg Marina looked after us very well considering the overcrowding and some weeks later they were generous over a misunderstanding of berth payments. After the Rally a survey was taken of the members and all agreed the event to be a success and that we should hold another Rally later this year and also a repeat to France next year.

Hugh Rowan

Rallies 2001

Yarmouth 2001 27-28 Oct.

Two Maxi 1100’s, Jovi and Taranaki, met in Yarmouth for drinks and a  pub meal. Saturday was gloriously sunny with a F3 to 4 South westerly, making a pleasant sail to Yarmouth.

 

   Cherbourg 2001

Five boats attended in Cherbourg on the weekend of 23rd-25th June. Berthing fees were exceptional value £1.20/m (£13 for 11m) per night. We made the 11 1/4 hour crossing from Gosport over Friday night, 15-20Kts of easterly wind and clear skies. The journey back on Monday took 10 1/2 hours in 15 Kts of Easterly.

As arranged, we congregated on Saturday night for Aperitifs followed by Dinner in the Yacht Club. Dinner  was excellent value, especially the large ice-cream Profiteroles.

Many thanks to Hugh Rowan for organising the event.

Taranaki

 

   Chichester / Cowes  2001

Nine boats attended for a night out at the theatre to see Tom Stoppard’s play “On the Razzle”, a very enjoyable Saturday evening. Sunday saw a move for some to Cowes Yacht Haven, evening drinks aboard Caorann and a brief AGM.

Taranaki

Yarmouth September 28th 2002

I received a phone call early in the morning of the 28th to say that Yarmouth was heaving with seven rallies. A little disappointing as I had called the Harbour master one month earlier and had been told that there were no events booked and that I couldn’t book. I now know that the harbour will take bookings, so the mistake will not be repeated. I must however thank the Harbour master for finding 6 berths for us at short notice.

The weekend was beautifully sunny with a SE force 3-4, the weather could not have been better!

Five boats, Taranaki, Cascade, Tumbler, Leda of Hamble and Jovi managed to moor between a pair of piles and Ospray squeezed on to the harbour wall. Unfortunately Maxima could not get into the harbour and Morfran had to moor on one of the outside buoys. Apologies to Maxima, Morfran & Ospray for the disorganisation and missing out on the Glasses of wine and chat.

The rest of us enjoyed some sunshine whilst sipping a glass of wine before rushing off to the Kings head to meet the 1830 hours food ordering deadline.

Pictures from the day –

Weymouth Saturday August 3rd 2002

Eight boats met on the east side of the Weymouth’s old harbour on Saturday night. Those from Taranaki, Caorann, Cascade, Tumbler, Maxima, Leda of Hamble, Jovi and local boat Aitch attended. We all managed to perch on/in Taranaki’s cockpit for a glass of wine and a chat. Ospray joined us on the Sunday on her way to the west country.

Thank you all for coming.

Mick & Rose

Pictures from the day –

East Coast 2002 Round-Up

 Moonshine took part in the Haven Race to Ostend, managing an astounding average of 7.7 knots for the 78 mile trip.  Wind conditions were good, starting at F4 and building to F5/6, with spinnaker runs for the first 12 and last 6 miles.  Moonshine then followed this with a delightful day with Bacchus in Nieuwpoort before turning for home.

Champions Bell at Burnham Week 2002     After a disastrous excursion under spinnaker onto the Foulness Sands (or concrete) on Monday, the rest of Eclipse’s week went much better… –          Tuesday: class winners for the up river race; –          Wednesday: won the first off-shore regatta and took line honours too; –          Thursday: runners up in the second offshore race; –          Friday: won the last offshore race and as a consequence the Midweek Points and Offshore regatta cups; –          Saturday: class line honours Overall, Eclipse were the Class 3 winners for the week and to cap it all, she was the Best Boat in Regatta in terms of points scored after discards (one retirement and a second place) and so won this year’s Champions Bell – quite an achievement!   It shows the benefit of a very well oiled crew and ….. a great yacht! by Daryl M

 August Bank holiday weekend saw