Langstone is generally less attractive than neighbouring Chichester Harbour, but nevertheless has much of interest. Our new venue was at the entrance of a small high-tide lagoon in Sinah Warren, east of ‘The Kench’ lagoon and the Sinah ‘Lake’ causeway. Only four boats turned up; Alan Glanville in his 19 foot Ness Yawl, Chris Jenkins in his 15 foot Potter AX, Liz Baker in her Cormorant and Len Wingfield in his Leader. Although quiet and isolated, our new venue is within reasonable walking distance of the pub and other facilities at Langstone entrance. It met with our approval.

Hurst Point 15th - 16th June

Sailing from Warsash, Hamble River, Len Wingfield met winds varying from Force 2 to 5 ahead. Chris Jenkins sailed from Calshot in his Potter AX while Arthur Burton and Jack Taylor had sailed from Poole in a little yacht. John Perry and Josephine Street had, unusually, only sailed from Keyhaven but for the very good reason that their 15 footer was laden with two crates of firewood, wine, cutlets and kebabs for a splendid barbecue! We were very pleased to see two newcomers, Dave Sumner in a highly organised little Mirror with tent cover, and Richard Moffat who had walked in and camped. This rally was voted an outstanding success.

East Head & Fowley Island (Chichester Harbour) 5th - 6th July

The Saturday morning brought fine sunny conditions with light winds but when Len Wingfield sailed into the Fowley Island lagoon it was uninhabited. Several likely looking boats subsequently arrived, including a GRP Tideway and a Drascombe, but they turned out to be from local clubs. However the Potter fleet was eventually sighted sailing down from Northney where they had spent the night, closely followed by Alan Glanville in his Ness Yawl, a fine Viking style open boat, and finally Dave Sumner in his little Mirror. With the tide dropping it was time to leave Fowley Island, as it is accessible only within two hours of HW. Most of the Potters joined us at East Head where we found David Weinstock and Pat in their Wharram catamaran, and Phil Nash turned up later on a push-bike. Potter people included Chris Jenkins, Bob Lomas, John Balmer, Bob Morrison, Steve Baker and Bruce Longstaff.

The many variants on the 14 foot WW Potter and 15 foot AX theme were fascinating. The Potters are a surprisingly small class but most owners are members of the class association. A common factor is that although all or most Potter skippers carry motors, they are far from being ‘motor-boatorists’, and are reluctant to use their motors unless quite necessary. Despite the Potter’s weight, top hamper and modest sail area, they sail in the most unpromising conditions. The Ness Yawl naturally attracted great interest, and also the cleverly thought out camping arrangements of the tiny Mirror, which even had a mast-head anchor light!

The Sunday brought a repeat of Saturday’s conditions, fine weather with the sea breeze tending to neutralise the light northerly breeze. This left us struggling against the flood stream to get to the Emsworth Channel and back home. Nevertheless a good rally.

Poole Harbour 19th - 20th July

Alan Glanville in his Ness Yawl and Len Wingfield in his Leader both arrived on the Friday, and both moored for the night in the reeds without ever meeting up, although the unmistakable Ness Yawl was sighted in the far distance next day. Returning to Wareham for the cruise in company, Len met up with Richard and Joan Davis, who have a caravan on the site, with their Sea Shanty class cuddy-boat sailer, Chris Jenkins — Potter AX, Keith Holdsworth — much modified GP14 and Peter Glover — 15 foot own design dory style rowing skiff. Although Peter arrived too late for a tow, to our surprise his rowing skiff overtook most who had started earlier by sail and motor — the winds had been very light, fluky and frustrating. On the way downriver we passed Snow Bunting, an ex-Dunkirk ‘Little Ship’. At the Shipstall Point venue it was agreed that we could not again face the long haul up the narrow and motor craft infested River Frome to Fareham. So when a fair breeze materialised we went straight on to Redhorn Quay near our Sunday venue and anchored in comfortable berths in the saltings. The nearest pub, a full two miles away, attracted only the two younger members. As we settled in for the night a lady on the shore called out that she envied us. However the kind offer of a berth on one of our boats was not taken up!

Sunday brought a good sea breeze to take us, if not all the way back to Wareham, at least across most of the harbour. Peter Glover remained to explore most of the harbour’s lovely southern shoreline. In all it is said to extend to two hundred miles but much of it is only available to very shallow draft boats such as Peter’s flat-bottomed skiff. We checked all likely places for other members but found none. The Gingells in a 14 foot cuddy sailer met up with the Davises but unfortunately the rest of us arrived too late at the venue.

Southern Poole Harbour has much to offer, but the downside is the long haul from the Redcliffe launching site down ‘motorboat alley’ to open water. There are launching facilities at Ridge and Rock Lea Point but these seem much more expensive.