The Monday after the 50th Anniversary rally weekend was the day of the RIGHT decision.

Those who had loved the glorious weather but just HAD to go back to work and duty made the RIGHT decision. On Monday the weather broke and the wind was excessive to requirements. East Head became a grey, semi-deserted dune of wind-blasted sand which invaded eyes, teeth and tea. The clouds were lowered and racing, the driven rain showers spirit-dampening. For those who had already left, East Head remained in their memories a place of gentle breezes with children playing on a sun-kissed golden beach. Those who remained at the camp site and chose to lay longer in bed after hearing the weather forecast, or who opted to shop or trip made the RIGHT decision. Being on the water meant being well reefed-down and struggling to windward through showers of salt, salt spray, or running downwind, heart in mouth, at hull speed under the smallest scrap of sail.

Those who sailed to East Head but who decided not to attempt to cross the Bar made the RIGHT decision. Conditions were sufficient to threaten breakage out there. The lifeboat was launched twice in the afternoon and the Coastguards were co-ordinating a search for wreckage following a sinking. Participating, yet knowing the personal limits of yourself, your crew and your craft requires the right decision at the right time and sometimes you have to be brave to make it.

Those who sailed over the Bar to experience the conditions first hand but eventually concluded that whilst sailing was possible it was going to become endurance rather than enjoyment, so returned to the harbour, made the RIGHT decision. They had demonstrated the extraordinary ability of a diverse group of dinghies (the smallest being the Mirror 11) when carefully handled. This was a day when only about a dozen of the thousands of yacht and powerboats in the harbour moved, mainly to more sheltered locations under power. Less than a handful of them ventured onto the bar, but then the majority of them returned. The only other dinghies to visit East Head were an Army team with RIB support boats.

It was a day when everyone could feel satisfied at having made the right decision for themselves. Nobody missed anything really because everyone went to their own comfortable limit.

Perhaps the most correct decision of the day was to ask Celia to arrange a (hasty) barbecue in the evening so that all that had used the day differently could come together and relate their individual experiences.