Thursday the 18th July saw some extremely keen Boaterists join Liberty at Bucklers Hard marina after a fine weather sail down. What a great testament to the wonderful variety of members we have in PSYC. There was a dash of excitement from a previous Commodore during his passage as Mike and Hilary / Saskia responded professionally to a small power boat on fire with a very serious electrical fault. After spotting the emergency flare, Saskia was immediately in contact with Solent Coastguard as the vessel had no working communication due to the fire onboard. Giving both reassurance to the affected vessels crew and updates and position to SC the situation was well handled and a credit to Saskia in all respects.The superb Chilli Van ( surely they must win some award ) kept the crews of Blitz, Skye Raye, Liberty, Saskia and Ayesha well fed as we valiantly tried to empty the marina bar that night. And a good try it was too.
Another fine sailing day Friday had the ‘keen’ group joined by another 20 boats of all shapes and sizes from 9 to 19+mts. Two of our number on Friday had mechanical issues, Scooby and Yesterdays Dream so could not complete the trip although Yesterdays Dream did come by land later.
Friday night at The Master Builders, after Pree’s in The Marquee, saw 41 sit for dinner in their historic dinning room. Congratulations we’re noted to our good friend from the USA, Warren McCandless on Pleasure, on his recent 84th birthday and to our newest members Feifei and Yan on Hui Kuo, with their delightful daughter Emily. Feifei had just had her graduation ceremony at Southampton University that day.
Rain came to us on Saturday for a generally cloudy and rather damp day as the last few boats arrived. After the Beaulieu walk led by Warren and Judy / Pleasure, the BBQ’s were lit and pre’s commenced a fine evening in The Marquee with 29 boats and 31 boat crews in attendance. Our outstanding singer / guitarist “ The Son of Blackbeard “(aka Jukebox James) drew a fantastic night together as the rain went away and fine song and merriment filled the night. With our now famous Sea Shanties plus Hotel California sung aloud, a really great night was had.
Sunday with the weather perfect again, a few departed back to Port Solent. After the infamous Moose Calls as 12:30, 9 tenders and a ‘ big’un ‘ went down river Armarda Style to moor at Gins Farm-RSYC, where a warm welcome and probably the best Sunday lunch carvery ever served awaited. Libations taken on seats on the grass or ‘on terrace’ were helped along by the outstanding views over The Solent for a perfect day. All made it back to the marina without mishap where some later had a relaxing chat and drink overlooking Bucklers Hard.
Port Solent Yacht Club had maxed out the visitors berths for the weekend. A great sight indeed to see so many Burgees. Monday and a breezier day had nearly all return to their home port or to carry on further with their voyage.
Sarah and I would like to thank all attending and making the three night rally the success it was, being boats Indigo, Deja Vu, Grand Cognac, No Faffing, Amelie, FantaSea, Memsahib X1V, Yesterday’s Dream, Pleasure, Diamond Time, Hai Kuo, Pure Spirit, Quirky Lady, Happy Place, Highland Lady, Riptide, Maggie May, Ayesha, Sea Air, Jango, Paxi Moon, North Landing, Gité, Aeolus, Shoogly Monster, Blitz, Skye Raye, Reef Knot and Saskia.