The First Rally of the Season Sharon Stuart (Legato)
What an odd start to the sailing year with lockdown resulting in the loss of too many ral-lies to mention. All the hard work of the committee in putting together a sailing pro-gramme was blown out of the water and a fantastic weather window missed. C’est la vie.
Then, to add insult to injury, when we finally released the first venue, Gin’s Farm cancelled us. Mike and Hilary scrambled to get us into East Cowes marina only to be defeated by the weather. The season was dying on its feet and we were wondering if we were ever going to get a rally out on the water again?
Roll on to 18th July and our first rally finally arrived. 11 boats with 26 people headed for Shepards Marina and finally the sailing gods smiled on us.
Three boats arrived a couple of days early, another the day before and the rest appeared on the day. There was glorious sunshine even if the wind was a bit stronger than forecast; how-ever, everyone arrived safely just lov-ing being back on the water.
In the emerging world after lockdown the rally had to be a little different. There was no rafting, so the Port So-lent Yacht Club filled the north visitors’ basin at Shepards Marina completely. This is not financially sustainable for the marina and it felt very decadent to have so much space and not have to clamber over boats to get home – or be clambered over – was lovely. There could be no more cheek-by-jowl sharing drinks and nibbles on each other’s boats. Instead we met on the pontoon with drink in hand all respectfully spaced but still smiling and chatting. It was a delight.
Much to Russ’ and my surprise all 26 people put their names down for dinner. In these pandemic days we weren’t sure if people would be up for that just yet. And yet they were. Some were a little apprehensive about how it would go – me included.
The Island Sailing Club hosted our evening meal. They replaced the large tables we were more used to with tables for two or four depending on people’s preference. They put us in the same area and everyone was respectful of each other’s space. The noise level rose as as people chatted and it felt much more normal than anyone had dared hope for.
One slight downside was that Shepards marina had very few toilets open and no showers at all. We all made do with what we had on our boats. I’ve never showered on Legato in the four years we’ve had her so was amazed when I turned it on, and hot water came out at a decent rate. I’d fully expected it to have seized up by now. Amazing. In fact, it was a good deal better than some of the marinas I’ve visited over the years.
So, not quite what we were used to but boy was it good to be out on a rally actually chatting to real people.
Then Sunday arrived and it was time to go home. The sailing gods poked their tongues out at us and sent us heavy drizzle. So, sailing home against wind and tide, in full-wets, we knew life had all but returned to normal. Summer had properly arrived.
I know that lockdown has been awfully hard for many people for various different reasons. I sincerely hope we don’t have to go through it again. But to finally be out and about on the water doing something that we all really enjoy seemed more precious than ever.
I would like to thank every-one who was able to come for their support for the rally. It was just such joy to be together again. Boats sharing this rally at Shepards Marina were Adriana, Gîte, Karolina, Legato, Memsahib XI, Mouse Too, Never Enough, Pom-pey Lass, Saskia, Soulmates and Spree.