Four boats turned up at Shipstall Point for the rally on Saturday, July 22nd, in very poor conditions. A fifth boat set out for the point but had difficulty in locating the venue and turned back, spending the night at Rockley Point jetty.

The night was rough with strong winds and Sunday morning brought forth gales force 6-7 with heavy drizzle. When it became apparent that there was to be no let up in the foul weather, the members, one by one, started back to their respective launching points. One of them, on arrival at Rockley Point, found that the strong winds and rough sea made recovery impossible and had to leave his boat afloat for collection at a later date.

Dave Chipping

I would like to take the opportunity to say how-do to those that arrived at Shipstall Point at Poole on Saturday 22nd July.

I am very poor at remembering names and due to the fine Poole weather (force 6 winds, steepish sea and rain) I only had a brief encounter with my fellow sufferers.

Friday evening it was with joy I paid attention to the local weather forecast for Saturday and expected weather for Sunday, letting all and sundry know that it would be cloudy with sunny intervals, winds 3 to 4 gusting 5 late afternoon.

We had misgivings (the wife and I) setting off Saturday, but nevertheless we had seen gusty cloudy Saturdays before that have been followed by warm sunny Sundays with hardly a snippet of wind. Anyway, if one of the local yacht clubs can race from Poole to Christchurch Ledge in Wayfarers I was sure a suitable route could be selected to reach Shipstall Point from Sandbanks near the harbour mouth.

I was pleased to see arrive during Saturday a Drascombe, with a friend in, I believe a Devon Yawl with cuddy, Mirror 16 and small cabin cruiser — sorry not sure of her type. It was very gratifying to see eight other people as nutty as ourselves.

I was inclined to suggest we all moved down to the lea of Brownsea Island as the south-westerly was coming straight down the channel. But I convinced myself that the weather would settle (foolish me, as Sunday the wind didn’t drop, and to add to any discomfort already being experienced it rained a very fine penetrating rain)

If anybody makes a return visit to Poole when the weather takes a friendly turn we would be pleased to meet them on the harbour if we are contacted in a reasonable time. I would suggest that neap tides are best for any rally in the harbour. If only I knew which day of any month would be good weather… but alas my crystal ball has a crack in it.