Blessed with beautiful ‘Indian Summer’ weather over the weekend, the last rally of the season took place at Cowes on 7 Oct.   Notwithstanding the sunshine, the Force 5 gusting Force 6 on the way across was a bit of a surprise!  Very early booking ensured that the fleet had pole position inside the South bay at Shepards, which was otherwise rammed with boats, some rafted 5 deep outside the marina in the Medina.  All other marinas in Cowes were turning away boats, sadly including a last minute Maxi participant.  Despite early planning our usual dinner locations (ISC or UKSA) were unavailable, but the adjacent Duke of York pub across the road turned out to be an excellent alternative, providing really good food and exceptional service.  We will be back!  Early departures to catch the tide going west on Sunday were achieved, despite the logjams in the harbour, but the wind had dropped away to nothing, so Mr Volvo was needed to get participants home.  Maxis taking part were:  Aloni, Ariam, Asante, Blue Lightning, Eye of Horus, Leda of Hamble, Lookin’ Foor Kloos and Huggy Bear.

Brilliant sunshine but no wind was the weather for the Lymington rally but everyone agreed it was preferable to wet and windy!

The rally was well attended with 13 boats participating; 8 alongside the Dan Bran pontoon, Lookin Foor Kloos alongside the Royal Lymington Yacht Club pontoon as host boat for the pontoon party, 3 other local boats (left on their moorings) and the Sams who arrived by car.

The pontoon party was attended by 28 crew in lovely evening sunshine before moving into the Royal Lymington Yacht Club.

As we had a private room, I twisted Andy and Sara Horwood’s arms to give a talk on their summer cruise to Northern Spain and back.  It was very well received with some excellent pictures and included accounts of two crossings of the Bay of Biscay and what to do when your propeller falls off in Spanish waters!  Many thanks to Sara and Andy for sharing their experiences.

Dinner followed with some excellent catering from the club.

On the Sunday, fine weather continued for the journeys home.

Boats participating were:

Julian Trimming