Early bird shakedown rally, Ryde

Sat 17 Apr

Report by Peter Lowry, photos by Gilliane Sills

Well, if the weekend we just had was the sign of the things to come then roll on the summer.

The weather forecast was for settled and sunshine but cooler in the evening.

Our destination was to Ryde Harbour on the Isle of Wight, I was not sure how many we would have as they don’t have any shore power on the pontoons so vessels without onboard heating would have to ensure they had full gas bottles and extra blankets!

As the weekend approached the number of boats increased and by Saturday morning we were up to 9 – so a good turnout for such an early rally.

Cleo departed the Hamble in company with Vol au Vent minus her skipper Ken as he is stuck in Dubai due to some volcano in Iceland. This left Sue playing Commodore in his absence and hijacked my eldest as crew.

Once we were all in and tied up, my next duty was to find a local pub for and evening meal –the harbour master suggested several in the town but we opted for "The Simeon Arms" about 200m from the marina. We were told that they served good pub food and cheap beer and that is what we had!

Sunday morning arrived and we would not be able to depart until the tide came in about 1230hrs. The entertainment for the morning was a choice of the Boule competition or the sandcastle competition; this caused a little uncertainty so the decision was taken by the children to have both, so we set off to the beach beside the marina. A very competitive game of boule was played by about 12 people and 3 intrepid individuals with spades built sandcastles.

As it is so early in the season and many people are not yet afloat. I would encourage you the have a go at a boule match at a rally and the winners of each heat will have to meet up and have a play off. As for the sandcastle trophy build a sandcastle and send me a photo to be judged at the end of the season. Remember there are trophies to be won!

After a great start to the 2010 season we headed for home – looking forward to the next event.

Peter Lowry

Boats in attendance:

Cleo	Superseal 26
Rascal	Superseal 26
Miss Fidget	Superseal 26
Foca	Superseal 26
Abacus	Parker 275
Penlu	Parker 275
Vol au Vent	Parker 275
Lucky Devil	Parker 325
Sandy Lady	Parker 235

Photos by Gilliane Sills