EAST COWES RALLY 5-6TH SEPTEMBER 2009

 As usual this proved to be an extremely popular venue with the membership & for once the weather wasn’t too tricky & freeflow times provided easy access in & out of Port Solent. A total of nine boats attended & in the end there were 24 of us for dinner at The Island Sailing Club, which didn’t quite go according to plan but more of that later! 

We booked the lower bar deck at Caffè Uno for an informal get together on Friday evening, & managed to scrape together around 15 – 20 people dropping in for a drink & chat & a couple of boats deciding they would like to be added to the list for the weekend rally…..we always have tail end charlies making up their minds at the last minute!! These were duly added & the marina & sailing club notified.

Saturday dawned sunny(ish) & the wind had dropped from the blustery conditions earlier in the week. We heard a few boats on the radio requesting lock outs, but we waited for free flow & family to arrive around mid morning & get kitted out in new kiddies lifejackets before setting sail & followed Algoa Bay across, at a stately distance, to arrive in nice time for Steve to helpfully take our ropes on arrival at East Cowes! The rest of the fleet duly arrived & we all got moored together in the visitors’ area of A pontoon by mid afternoon. There was also another PSYC boat there, Mia Two with Richard & Hilary on board, who were officially with another Nimbus rally but came over to say hello.

Everyone did their own thing for the rest of the afternoon….we walked the family down to the Chain Ferry & across to Cowes as it was their first time there, but gave in to the water taxi back after a 4 year old’s tantrum in Cowes High Street where Granddad Peter pretended not to be related in any way!!

We hosted the customary drinks & nibbles on Mañana & for those who may remember Iona (the 8 year old granddaughter) from the Northney rally last year, she was true to form in acting as the ‘bouncer’ by screening visitors & relieving them of their bottles before allowing them on board!

The water taxi had been booked in advance with permission from Island Sailing Club to land on their pontoon. However, on arrival we found a very full dining room with a reserved table for PSYC laid out for 18 & by now our numbers had swelled to 24 but unfortunately they hadn’t received the message which Peter had left in the morning with the revised numbers. Emma & Richard & Carol & Ally were very sporting & took up a table in the bar area with a couple of big bowls of chips so we donated the kids uneaten fish goujons to their feast. Carol & Steve took the opportunity to explore the local Indian restaurant.

The rest of us enjoyed an excellent meal & hospitality from Island Sailing Club & taxis back from their pontoon.

On Sunday we all took our leave from East Cowes Marina fairly uneventfully given that currents can be tricky there sometimes. Abacus & Just Chillin’ were at the start of 2 weeks holiday so they headed west for Yarmouth & the rest back to Port Solent.

The participating boats were Towermaid, Cantata, Shiraz, Algoa Bay, Abacus, Carina, Just Chillin’, Grand Slam & Mañana.

Judith Hunter
Mañana