Bursledon — 21st-22nd May

The weekend started with showers, some of them heavy, and as far as I know none of us started with the suggested sail over to Cowes. I was content to sail from Swanwick on the Hamble out into the Solent, anchoring off the ‘Castle’ on the wooded shore of the Calshot Country Park. Returning to the Hamble, I was wondering whether, in view of the weather, anyone would turn up at the rendezvous at Bursledon. To my surprise the draw dock was full of DCA boats, including Don Alexander in his Mirror 16, Mark Tingley in his Roamer and Richard Hignett in his twin centreboard special. The latter very kindly produced hot soup as a very welcome warmer-upper. At the Jolly Sailor we were joined by Geoff Wright and crew with Julian, from the Cornish Crabber, and a good evening ensued.

In the morning I was the only one to take up the programme proposal of sailing up under the bridges to Curbridge on the first flood, then attempting the Botley Channel on the second slight rise. E J Baden had very kindly written to warn me that this little channel is now even more overgrown, but due to a late start the full ebb caught me soon after passing Pinksmead cottage, so I had no option but to return before it dried out.

Chichester Harbour Weekend — 4th-5th June

With gale warnings and forecast of heavy rain, it would not have been surprising if no one turned up at Cobnor sailing and camping weekend, but no less than 18 hardy souls turned up all told.

Several single-handers sensibly left their boats at home to crew on other craft, nevertheless a wide range of boats were in action. At one extreme was a radical Catapult inflatable catamaran said to be capable of 17 knots. At the other end of the spectrum was a pretty little Lune Pilot. In between were three Leaders, a Mirror, a Kestrel and John Perry’s 15 footer.

With a warning of gusts of up to 35 knots from Marinecall, crew weight was at a premium, and I was glad to share my Leader with George Saffrey another Leader owner as well as Ray Tewksbury a former Roamer owner. The other Leader was skippered by Wendy Newton with her crew David. It was agreed that in spite of the weather we should carry on with the published programme and beat down to East Head for lunch. If conditions got too bad we could drop our mainsails and return to the shelter of Bosham creek under jibs. There was so much spray flying that rain was hardly noticed. Once there the conditions moderated for our lunch on the dunes and a stroll round the nature reserve. We were joined there later by Brian Sanderson and Don Mariaty in the Lune Pilot. The choice of further sailing was limited by the inability of heavily reefed boats to make progress against wind and tide. We therefore limited ourselves to exploring the Thorney Channel and the Prinstead and Nutborne branches as far as the low tide allowed. We then returned before the new flood set against us. Liz Baker with Mark Tingley as crew sailed her Mirror up channel to lunch in the shelter of a small creek in Oldpark Wood. Back at Cobnor we were all glad to change into warm dry clothes, some walking to the Old House at Home, others getting their barbecues going as the rain eased.

After rain in the night the morning was sunny with a fresh but manageable breeze. Slade Penoyre had arrived and assembled his catamaran. We were all late for the early start needed to get up to Mengham Rythe on the tide so we all cast off as and when ready. The three Leaders got away first with George sailing his own boat single-handed. By the time we reached Sandy Point we had the wind and the strong ebb against us but we finally got to the head of the creek, the lovely ‘His Lordship’s Pool’. As it was drying out fast we dropped back to the Sandy Point rendezvous meeting the others for lunch by the dunes. When ready to return most of us had to join together to lift the boats to the water, but Slade merely fixed trolley wheels to the twin centreplate slots and wheeled his cat down the beach by himself. He then manoeuvred his big catamaran out through the crowded moorings as if it was a racing dinghy. Sailing back the wind strengthened and George sailed back to Cobnor on jib alone. John Perry and Josephine reefed down to a small Bermudan rig, carried on up the Itchenor Channel with the two remaining Leaders. We heard later that the other Leader, with full sail on the run had capsized.

The lovely and unspoiled Cobnor campsite is only available to organised groups but we would be happy to consider joining with another group for 1995 and other Cobnor weekends. There is a problem in that the toilet blocks are private, so unless we can negotiate something the DCA guests may have to provide their own loos in future.

Newtown River — 18th-19th June

Don Alexander sailed over from Hamble on the Friday in his Mirror 16, but on the Saturday the forecast westerly f3-4 turned out to be f5 gusting 6. Joe Scott in his PBK 14 and Richard Hignett in his twin C/B Special had a fair wind from Keyhaven, Joe sailing on his jib only because of the conditions. Meanwhile Len Wingfield, single-handed in his Leader, and soon after Liz Baker in her Mirror launched from Swanwick in the Hamble. Conditions within Southampton Water were reasonable but in the Solent the fresh breeze against the ebb was pushing up a nasty chop, making progress difficult and rather dangerous for single-handed light boats. Eventually Liz sensibly gave up and returned up the Hamble to camp above the bridges. Len also found the windward work too wearing and returned to the shelter of Calshott in the hope that the wind might moderate later. Meanwhile Geoff Wright with a crew got through from Hamble in his Cornish Coble, as did Julian in his 22 foot Westerly. After a second attempt Len was feeling his age and retreated to spend the night in the shelter and comfort of the Eling shore. Last to arrive at the rally was Mark Tingley in his Roamer. He was too late to meet up with the others at the pub but in time to hear their well-lubricated voices as they walked back along the track. The wind moderated on the Sunday.