Many thanks to John Withers for providing this report on the weekend. If you have some photos please send them to your webmaster.
A screaming reach, bumpy nights, 3
perfect days, good food, good company and a fetch home – well
almost!
It all started with Parkstone members
saying that they might get out of their haven; it was a very low tide
you see. Oh how smug we Poole boys were – until we went to leave
that is – BANG! Solid rock mid-way between the wall & the
pontoon – not so smug now.
Off we went to the 08.00 Class Two
start – no-one there, “Shall we go off now at 07.50 then? Hang on
a mo’ there are four boats in the entrance, let’s wait for them”.
8am came & off we went, the others still not there on time. What
a beautiful day & we’re in the lead – perfect. With
spinnakers up we were making 180, not high enough. After - was it 20
miles? - we took the spinny down & close-reached on 210 – still
perfect. Nearing Cherbourg we were doing over 10 knots over the
ground – fantastic, 9 hours 21 minutes to Alderney – superb!
We tied-up against Solmate (who had
set-off early - they didn’t believe we’d have such favourable
conditions – Tee Hee). Then the bumping began! After dinner (taken
with us because we didn’t believe it either really) then off to the
sailing club and on to The Divers, they were smoking in there, some
had their hats on too, we were in a past time & it was nice in
some ways. Motorcyclists didn’t wear helmets & hired bikes
didn’t need locking – that sort of nice.
The next morning we discuss the rude
PYRA members who’d tied alongside in the night (as if we were
asleep – fat chance), we rearranged fenders & we BUMPED! Some
left for Cherbourg, others left their boats to bump and went off to
hire bikes, or walk around the island. We chose the bikes.
We remember good sailing, we remember
good restaurants, but most of all we remember great days ashore -
this was one of the best. Sunshine and superb bays with turquoise
clear water, wonderful buildings, homes to die for and a bar when you
need it (11am). Look out for The Barn on the SE corner – nice. We
continued refreshed to the western shore where a zigzag path took us
down to sea level. We explored rock pools before setting off in
search of ice creams.
The rendezvous at Alderney Sailing Club
was high-jacked by JOG, who had arranged to meet 30 minutes earlier
than us. Still we managed to get a pint, or two, before heading up
the hill to the curry house (highly recommended).
Another bumpy night before the off.
Firestarter did what it says on the stern, Keith & crew setting
us off with a fetch home in glorious sunshine. Good progress was made
until the wind dropped to virtually nothing. We motored from 19.00 –
when the chilli was ready – we were 10 miles off. Some were not so
lucky, Benny had to motor 30 miles. Others held on tho’ Zorro
finishing at 22.30. At Bar Buoy we saw the pain in the crew
Firestarter’s eyes, no it wasn’t because they were trying to make
the line against the tide with no wind, it was because they’d run
out of fags!
All in all a brilliant weekend, let’s
go back when they’ve built a marina. Results
Any captions for this photo? Let me have your suggestions.
Following much dialogue and discussion in the light of the fact that there is a still a possibility that the French fishermen might blockade Cherbourg, it has been decided that it would be prudent to change the destination to Alderney. Hence, this confirms a change to the Red Book Sailing instructions as follows: Friday 6 June - Poole to Alderney Finishing Line - Alderney finishing line (as defined within the Red Book) Note safety ORC Cat 3 and life raft still applies see 3.2.a Sunday 8 June - Alderney to Poole Start Line - Alderney Please do not forget to declare your start time for the race over on Friday when declaring finishing times in the normal way. Looking forward to seeing you all in Alderney Sailing Club on Friday evening. |
