This meeting was quite well attended, but turned out somewhat like the children’s game of hunt-the-thimble, only in this case we were hunting the members.

I sailed my little bilge keeler down on the Friday beforehand and anchored overnight beside the old Ballast Hill in Bessom Fleet. During the night she must have blown onto the edge of the heap with the result that I spent a miserable night at a precarious angle, getting hardly any sleep at all. And to cap it all, on Saturday there was almost no wind until the mid afternoon.

About four members had telephoned to say they were coming, among them, Peter Small and the Kells, Anne and Dennis — all sailing Wayfarers. I arranged a meeting place, from which we could easily reach more sheltered spots should the wind and sea state make it desirable. Unfortunately I misinterpreted Peter’s relay of my intentions with the result that he and I were separated by no more than a quarter of mile, each not seeing the other.

So on Saturday night, feeling like a shepherd who thinks he has lost his sheep, I finally motored round the creeks with the DCA burgee flying as high as I could hang it. Unfortunately I saw no one, and no one saw me. Then, having had a rough night on the Friday I picked up a mooring, ate and turned in about 8pm. Peter by this time, assumed I hadn’t made it because of lack of wind, had returned to Tollesbury Marina. Anne and Dennis did arrive eventually after much rowing and were probably pulling up on the shore as I was giving my first snore. It also turned out that I missed John Perry, who although he hadn’t telephoned, had arrived and must have been ashore eating when I did my flag waving motoring trip. I had failed to recognise his boat although I must have passed close to it.

I saw Anne and Dennis almost instantly upon waking next morning. They had set up within a stone’s throw of me! Later, as arranged (note that it is the one thing that did go according to plan!) Paul Constantine came down by car and sailed back to Walton with me, Anne’s new Wayfarer passing us en route and making us wonder if we’d left the anchor down.

This is my first experience of attempting to organise one of these rallies and I hope such near misses are avoided in future. They will be if folk will telephone first as even if I’m out my wife will always have details of the plans.

Walton Backwaters 14th - 15th June

Forecast was NW 3/4 with showers, dying out later.

A small ensemble met at Stone Point at the mouth of the Backwaters. These were Charles Proudfoot, our co-ordinator in his Roamer Tai Tai, Ted Jones in his 17’ Skipper Bubbles and myself with Dave Halsall as crew in my Heron Dog Village. Luckily the showers died out by 10am and we set sail for Pin Mill on the River Orwell. Charles and Ted obligingly let the lesser canvassed Dog Village set the pace. The conditions were now perfect, off-shore wind, not too choppy and plenty of sunshine.

The entrance to Harwich is very busy so a sharp eye was required to spot the antics of the tankers, ferries, sea-cats and numerous sailing boats. The tide turned at 2pm so as we faced fighting the tide in both directions we decided to break for lunch rafted up on a buoy at Levington. Ted continued on to Pin Mill, but as the wind had freshened up the rest of us put in a reef and headed back to Walton. The trip back was just as enjoyable, sailing on a good breeze. We were back at Stone Point in no time. Tai Tai and Dog Village explored the Backwaters which is excellent creek crawling territory, before meeting up with Ted and heading for our intended mooring at Kirby Quay (Witch’s Creek for all you Arthur Ransome fans). The very neap tide made navigation touch and go, but it was certainly worth the effort as the Quay proved an idyllic spot to spend the night, once Charles had placated the natives. We dined at The Ship in Kirby-le-Soken and passed a very pleasant evening discussing topics such as the pros and cons of cabins on dinghies and the like. All spent the night aboard their respective craft, although most of Dog Village’s rigging was put ashore to make room for the crew. An early start was required to catch the tide as the ‘locals’ needed water to get back to their berths, so we made our farewells Sunday morning after a very successful and varied trip.