A chance encounter provided the first meeting of MOA members in the Northwest region.
The Easter weekend in mid-April found Dreamtime (Maxi 95) cruising to the Menai Straits from her home base in Liverpool. After a late arrival on the Friday evening, we picked up a mooring on the Anglesey side near the Gazelle Hotel, opposite Bangor pier. The crew awoke to a glorious morning and fine views of the Welsh mountains across the water. We also caught sight of a familiar boat moored nearby – a Maxi 100.
This turned out to be “Lopud” and we motored over after breakfast for a chat with Mike and Caroline Allen, the owners. We had been in email contact about a possible regional rally, but this was our first meeting. They had just launched “Lopud” that weekend, in her base in Conwy, and were trying her out and enjoying the fine weather. We continued our cruise with some lazy sailing up the Straits and an overnight anchor in the lee of Puffin Island, before an early start on Sunday morning for the passage back to Liverpool. We hope there will be more opportunities to arrange gatherings of Maxi’s in the Northwest region, quite possibly in the same location, which is convenient for many of the members in this area.
Jerry Turnbull
Nov 06: Reprinted from Maxi News Autumn 2006