Easter Rally
What a perfect start to the Easter Rally: free-flow at Port Solent delayed due to the High Pressure, but at a very user-friendly 1100, well user friendly for some! I understand Legato left at daybreak. Saskia, on her first Club rally, was allowed into the fairway by High Time and was promptly cut up by a 42ft Bavaria reversing off the fuel pontoon. However Mike, on the helm, put his newly-found 'neutral-is-your-friend' skills to bear and avoided colliding with it in the mouth of the lock. High Time also managed to avoid us, having given us a wide berth as they had been warned we'd still got the training wheels on!
A very pleasant motor down the fairway in company with Up to Speed, High Time and followed by Shiraz, no incidents at the harbour mouth as everyone was being exceptionally well-behaved. Fellow members Lady M were also heading out on their own and were very polite to QHM.
Planing in the Solent at 21 kt was a great experience and over all too quickly. We motored gently up the Beaulieu river to hear that Stardust had decided she wanted to be alongside so, as host boat, we rafted against her. It’s great to have someone to take the lines. Gîte returned to the raft and we aligned our bathing platforms to ensure easy access.
Boats arriving after us moored on the mid-river pontoon as a rally from Lymington had appeared from nowhere for lunch. Unfortunately half of them decided to arrive for lunch at 1400 which was when they should have been departing. Apparently it’s a difficult tide from Lymington to Beaulieu. Unfortunately as one of the late arrivals was leaving the tide was ebbing and the skipper took little notice, damaging Gîte in the process of departing. Having removed the offending boat back to the pontoon, taken photos, exchanged insurance details and given him and his crew instructions for correct departure procedure, PSYC rally participants executed some textbook moorings into the tide – eight boats on the pontoon and two remaining mid-river.
Over the afternoon therapeutic quantities of alcohol were consumed, old friends were welcomed, people went cycling and walking and new acquaintances were made. The afternoon turned to pre-prandial (pre-dinner - we looked it up!)
drinks on the pontoon; more friends and contacts were made. The newly-renovated Royal Southampton Yacht Club premises are excellent and provided us with a great dining experience: great food and service. The view across the river is also spectacular and a pink rising moon was memorable; photos taken didn't do it justice, you had to be there.
Saturday dawned bright and sunny; Gîte, Andiamo and Shiraz headed to Poole to join Nicknack. Other participants went off to do their own thing in the Solent before joining up again in Lymington. The beautiful, very atypical, April weather gods continued to accompany the PSYC rally. A small but select group of four boats, two sail and two power, made the journey out of the Solent across an almost still Poole Bay and into the frenetic activity of Poole Harbour on a sunny bank holiday weekend. In theory two of the rally boats were sail, but the lack of wind meant that actually sailing was quite a task. Gîte (power) arrived first at Poole Quay Boat Haven with Andiamo arriving just in time to share lunch. Since Andiamo love fishing, the crew of Gîte had hoped for a few mackerel to accompany their salad at least, but the emergency cold meats had to suffice instead as the fish were playing hard to get that day.
A pleasant afternoon was spent dodging the holiday crowds around Poole quayside, whilst waiting for Nicknack and Shiraz to reach the marina. Nicknack kindly hosted drinks and nibbles on board, then all went into Poole to eat at the Brewhouse. The locally brewed beer went down very well with a pleasant meal. Andiamo departed at 6am on the Sunday, determined to catch some fish that day.
Nicknack and Shiraz left about 0800 to catch the tide back into the Solent, whilst Gîte caught up with some local friends in Poole before deciding to use the perfectly calm conditions to motor along at sailing-yacht speed across the bay, keeping an eye out for possible dolphins. Andiamo were lucky enough to spot a seal for the second day running, although they reckoned he must’ve been taking all the fish.
When we reached Lymington’s Dan Bran pontoon, some PSYC members who had not gone to Poole were already there. The harbourmaster was very helpful, not only accompanying yachts to their berth in his dinghy but taking lines as well. Most yachts had found the lack of wind made sailing limited or non-existent again, but eventually all were successfully rafted alongside the pontoon or slid into finger berths. New PSYC members Tanzanite (power) and Mouse Too (sail) joined the rally along with other boats who had been at Gins Farm on Friday night. Somerled hosted a pre-dinner pontoon party before members departed to check out Lymington’s restaurants or to eat onboard.
Another sunny morning dawned on Easter Monday as the rally boats departed one by one. The wind had picked up over the previous couple of days, such that some boats had to reef but it was also on the nose past Cowes making it a longer tacking journey back to Port Solent for the yachts. Gîte left last after the crew of Tanzanite, who had been rafted alongside her, returned from walking the dogs and arrived back at Port Solent, sneaking through the lock just before free-flow was suspended due to the very high tide. I say sneaking, but in fact the lockmaster advised boats to keep their speed up due to the flow of water in the lock, such that the hard turn to starboard to get to the fuel berth proved “interesting”.
All in all, a very pleasant rally, (apart from the anchor incident at Gins) made even better by good company and excellent weather with fantastic sunsets and, for those who saw them, sunrises too. As a final act, Andiamo at last caught some enormous fish, on their way back to Port Solent.