Summary.

We had 11 boats taking part with around 27 people for the first cruise outside of the mainland UK since the start of the pandemic. It was heartening to see so many boats take part including a guest couple from Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) who joined us – Oliver and Ingeborg. Total mileage sailed over the two weeks was 270nm.

Boat Name		Length (m)	Model	Owner
Purrfect Tale		Sailing 10.4	Hanse 348	Michael & Gillian
Xtract		Sailing 9.4m	X-Boat 302	Dudley & John
Dino Volante		Sailing 10.0m	Sigma 33	Ken, Linda & Paul
SY Mon Dilemma		Sailing 11.2m	Oceanis 37	Oliver & Ingeborg
Claribel		Sailing 13.7m	Oceanis 45	Jules, Sarah, Clarissa, William & Annabella
Zampa		Sailing 13.7m	XC45	Ian & Kirsten
Ugly Duckling		Sailing 10.6m	Sagitta 35	Headley, Katie & Tish
Batfish V		Sailing 12.5m	Comet 41S	Bill & Nicky
Island Girl		Sailing 12.5m	Jeanneau DS42	Dex & Julia
Boysterous X		Motoboat 10.6m	Swift Trawler 35	Colin & Naomi
Stealth of Brighton		Motorboat 13.5m	Sea Ray 13.5	Fred & Diane

Date/Day	Event	Outline Timings	Distance	Dinner/Organised Events
Saturday 16th July	Cruiser Rally Supper – BBQ	1830hrs	–	RSrn Clubhouse
Sunday 17th July	Hamble – Yarmouth	1400hrs	13nm	Pontoon Party
Monday 18th July	Yarmouth – Braye Harbour Alderney	0600hrs	65nm	Moorings, Braye, 1940hrs
Tuesday 19th July	Alderney	Rest Day	–
Wednesday 20th July	Alderney-St Peter Port Guernsey	1500hrs	22nm
Thursday 21st July	St Peter Port	Rest Day	–	Mermaid Tavern – Herm
Friday 22nd July	St Peter Port	Rest Day	–	Royal Guernsey YC – TBC
Saturday 23rd July	St Peter Port – St Helier Jersey	0930hrs	26nm
Sunday 24th July	St Helier	Rest Day	–	Royal Channel Islands – Sunday Lunch – TBC
Monday 25th July	St Helier – Sark	1630hrs
Tuesday 26th July	Sark	Rest Day	–
Wednesday 27th July	Sark – Alderney	0500hrs	22nm	Organised Dinner – Prize Giving
Thursday 28th July	Alderney – Yarmouth/Hamble	0700hrs	65nm/79nm

16th July Preparing to Leave

The planning for this year’s summer cruise started back in 2021. Pat North has organised the event for many years but this year she was off to New Zealand to see her family with whom she had not been able to visit for some time due to Covid. Dudley Stocks thankfully stepped in and took charge of the racing. The original intent was to head to Northern Brittany but the limited ports of entry and exit made this quite challenging. So we looked at creating a programme around the Channel Islands of Alderney, Guernsey, Jersey and Sark. We made a deliberate decision to have rest days in each location so everyone could explore the Islands and chill out. We also decided to make the start from the Clubhouse with an evening BBQ so everyone could get into the swing of the Summer Cruise.

We had both decided that it would be nice to eat on board more in between dinners ashore. So we invested in the book Canned! Sounds not too good I admit – based primarily on tinned food. But we had tried out a few recipes and were impressed! It did take us back to the days when perhaps fresh food was not quite so available and fridges were a lot smaller – showing our age now!

Saturday was the big load. Ah yes – I forgot to mention the batteries!!! Well both domestics were completely buggered. I have to admit primarily due to me not looking after them. They can’t be that expensive to replace surely? Mmmm – a few £k lighter we had two new batteries, a battery monitor and a solar panel. As soon as you slip lines and disconnect from the shoreline, the fridge, radio, autohelm instruments, iPhone charging, lighting all start to eat away at the meagre amount of amps in the batteries. It had got so bad with the old batteries that the boat went dark after 45 mins.

So back to the packing. There was a lot to get into the boat including a camping table, more storage boxes in the hold and of course a wide variety of clothing to cope with the vageries of the British summer weather. Whilst they were forecasting temperatures of 40deg we will wait and see what happens.

In the evening we went down to the RSrn ready for the Summer Cruise BBQ. We were sharing the venue with the Women’s Open Keelboat Championship. There were a few comments as to why men were present – well – we are members of the Club. It also happened to be Clarissa’s 13th birthday – so we had a little celebration with a birthday card and gift voucher for Accessories – Alice’s and Jennifer’s recommendation – well done! Clearly my small speech caused a little confusion as instead of hearing ’13’ many heard ’18’ years old. It was not till half way through the cruise that this was cleared up. Oliver and Ingeborg had made it from Hamburg, Dex and Julie who are new members, Ian and Kirsten who had not previously been on a summer cruise, Headley, Katie and Tish, Bill and Nicky Blain, Keneth, Lynda and Paul from their boat plus Dudley and John and of course Sarah, Jules, Clarissa, William and Annabella. Maggie came along with Phil McGowan. The two motorboats were still on a rally and did not join till the following evening.

17th July – Hamble to Yarmouth

I thought it would be an early reveille for me as I discovered, when we got back to the Purrfect Tale late at night, that the toilet was not working. Big sigh! I could not face it at 2330hrs so decided to get up early. I thought I knew what the problem was and had the YouTube video to hand! Tools out, Gillian asleep. Before taking the heads apart I went to turn off the water intake to prevent any flooding. And to my surprise it was already off. Needless to say turning it on solved the problem. The quickest fix I have done on the boat to date.

Rest of morning and early afternoon was relaxing and waiting for the right tidal conditions both off the berth and down the Solent.

Arrived Yarmouth after an enjoyable and uneventful sail down in completely benign conditions – a bit of a first for us. No tacking down the Solent! Upon arrival we berthed next to Claribel. The harbour launch giving us a helping hand pushing us alongside. A pontoon party in the evening together with a briefing for departure in the morning was organised. it also provided an opportunity to award the Duck for the first time and this was made to Kirsten. Unfortunately Claribel had a bit of a mare with the Code Zero coming down the Solent. Kirsten leapt enthusiastically at the opportunity to scale the mast, at least 3 times, to fix, ably assisted by Clarissa on the winch.

The higlight of the pontoon party was the German sausage and mustard brought along by Oliver and Ingeborg for the pontoon party which without doubt was the best fare on offer that evening. It proved to be the first of many culinary delights from Hamburg. Our first briefing of the trip followed drinks and nibbles before we all returned to boats to prepare for an early start in the morning.

It was good to see Phil who had come along just for that one night to see us off on our cruise with his new boat a Swift called Corribee. We had a few drinks on board and then he came around for supper for Gillian’s now famous chorizo and bean feast courtesy of Canned! After a few drinks more than I intended, Phil departed and we went for a late night shower. Sadly it was a bit of a too late night shower. Having come out and dried myself I discovered I had been locked in! With something of panic I tried the door several times and rang reception. I was beginning to think a night would have to be spent on the floor when I found the fire escape in the darkness.

18th July – Yarmouth to Braye, Alderney

A very early start – up at 0500 and away by 0530 – a recurring theme on the trip. This was the day that temperatures were due to rise to 40deg in UK. An absolutely windless departure and a beautiful sunrise. All the boats left within 30 mins of each other and we were soon streaming down the Needles on the last of the tide. I have never had such a quiet and smooth passage through the Needles Channel.

For the first 5 hours it was a motor – with little wind. It was so quiet I even got the sextant out to do sun sights. Sadly my inept abilities resulted in us being correctly north of the equator – the north bit was right but not much else was. Mmm – I need to go back and do some re-learning. We both had a bit of a doze and enjoyed the smooth seas and warm sunshine. Crossing the channel in shorts and t-shirt was definitely a first for both of us. Eventually we had some wind and out of necessity needed to get some sailing underway to ensure we hit the 50/50 rule – no more than 50% engine and remainder sailing. It was bliss to have the engine off and even though we were going along at a modest 4kts the swish of the sea past the bow and the creak of the spars with the wind made it a peaceful few hours. Closing the shipping lanes we did call up a couple of ships that had CPA of less than 100m and both kindly moved over. There was a yacht on our port side which did not appear to have AIS and one of the ships did not see it till the last moment. It is the first time I have heard 5 long pulls on the horn mid channel – not once but twice. There was not much the yacht could do at this late stage without causing even more uncertainty. But the ship did need to make some sharp manoeuvres.

On longish voyages I always complete an hourly log, marking off the passage on the paper chart which gives a great sense of satisfaction and progress as well as marking the passage of time. Lunch was the left over chorizo and then the kitkats were eventually broken open. We had another 90 mins under engine before the final sail into Braye. By now the wind had got up quite a bit and the tide was flowing fast West and then South down the Alderney channel. We had to sail well above our point of entry in order to avoid the submerged sea wall and being swept down the channel. A little bit hairy especially in the wind. But we did get over the finishing line in what we thought was good time with all sails flying. The harbour was both full and quite rough. Gillian bravely went up on deck to take the sails down whilst I steered the boat into wind. We then motored around deciding whether to come alongside another boat on a buoy or anchor. We opted for anchoring having seen how rough it was for those that were rafted up on a single buoy. First attempt did not go well but second attempt and the anchor took.

By now it was getting late. A quick soldier’s wash and then ordered the water taxi to get to the restaurant before it stopped serving food. The menu had just about run out of options by the time we got there but all participants made it and all were in good heart. The Duck for this day’s sailing was awarded to Clarissa, William and Annabella for the youngest crew to have come across the Channel on a Royal Southern Summer Cruise. We got back to the boat around 2300 and opened the bottle of wine we did not have time to do when we arrived and then to bed for a very good nights sleep.

19th July – Rest Day Braye

Dinghy was blown up on the back of the boat and we motored into the inner harbour for a walk into town. Up the hill – the very steep and long hill – to the Main Street for coffee and croissant in the cafe. A number of others from the Rally passed us by and stopped for a chat. The cafe thought we must be very important people for so many to know us! We had a little rain as left to search for the Cathedral of the Channel Islands – St Anne’s. In 2000 the Regiment I was commanding – 30th Signal regiment – made a set of church gates to replace the ones that were lost in the 40’s. One was constructed with the Royal Corps of Signals Crest and the other with the rampant lion of the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

After motoring back to the boat we had a relaxed lunch of salads and cold meats before a doze in the late afternoon. Back in the dingy at 5pm to get back ashore for the briefing in the Alderney Sailing Club. There are two routes to Guernsey from Braye – one around the north of the Island and then down the Alderney Race and the other directly South through the Swinge. The former is longer but reputedly less subject to overfalls and the latter is renowned for its overfalls especially in wind over tide. The majority opted for the direct route – more on this later!

A couple of boats went on to have dinner at the Indian Restaurant. It must have been a great meal as they left in the taxi without one of the team!

We had an early night but it did not pass quickly. The boat rolled and rolled and the main sheet squeaked at night. To make matters worse I snored for apparently a large proportion of the time. We were both thankful – well nearly thankful – when the alarm went off at 0500hrs.

20th July – Braye – St Peter Port Guernsey

As we were at anchor we talked through leaving Braye. Gillian managed to raise the anchor whilst I steered the boat. We were expecting some drama in lifting the anchor – either stuck, twisted, covered in weed or mud. But it came up like a dream. We had laid out 40m so it did take a while to get it all in. We then steamed out of the harbour and headed South down the Swinge. Despite reading all the pilot books which mentioned the size and ferociousness of the overfalls we were still taken a little by surprise. We did have some warning as there was a long line of yachts in front of us – Batfish, Xtract, Dino Volante and Mon Dilemma. The troughs in the waves were very large and I had to helm by hand rather than auto helm. It seemed like 20 minutes before we were out of the worst of it but they were the largest and perhaps most unpredictable waves I had been in.

Once clear we motored down towards the Little Russel. We did mange to get an hour sailing which was very pleasant. But the wind was not quite right to get us down the Russel Channel before the tide turned when we would struggle to get into St Peter Port. We arrived about 0930 at peak departure time. However the marina was extremely well managed and we were met by the launch who escorted us into a berth next to a small French yacht. Quite quickly a berth became available along side so we did the quickest departure I have done and motored to the next pontoon. It was a very tight spot to get into but the launch pushed us in sideways and I just had to judge the fore and aft position. Soon after berthing a French yacht being sailed single handed arrived and moored up next to us.

After the disturbed night and early start in Braye harbour we both felt we deserved a breakfast ashore. The local cafe served up an outstanding Croque Monsieur with an egg on top and Gillian had scrambled egg on toast. The portions were a little larger than we had expected. We then had a sleep in the afternoon to make up for the terrible night. In the evening we had pontoon party hosted by Dudley. The table we had carefully packed back at the Hamble was taken out and used for food and drink. The Duck this time was handed over and awarded to Oliver who had navigated the English Channel with no charts, having discovered they ran out at the Needles. He had downloaded Navionics onto his iPhone in Braye only for the phone to disappear into the harbour coming back on the water taxi which itself was a bit of a health and safety nightmare.

That evening we went to the Petite Bistro with Ken, Lynda, Fred, Diane, Headley, Tish, Katie, John, Dudley and Paul. We had a private table in the back room and passed away a very pleasant evening. Sorting out the bill at the end became a bit of mare! However the winners of the largest bill of the evening went to Fred and Diane as a result of their extremely generous hospitality. It was a careful walk by all back to the boat and along a wobbly pontoon.

21st July Rest Day St Peter Port

We planned to go to Herm on this rest day, taking the ferry across from St Peter Port. A relaxing start to the day before wandering down to catch the ferry which took about 15 mins to cross to the Island. With Dudley, Paul and John, we walked clockwise around the Island which took a couple of hours. A bit more hilly than expected. We spotted Ken and Lynda down on the beach and passed Bill, Nicky, Headley, Tish, Kattie who were walking anti-clockwise. Arriving a little late and a little sweaty from the circumnavigation we all sat down to lunch at the Mermaid Restaurant. Whilst the food was average, the service was good. Towards the end of the meal we got chatting to Ian and Nicky and wandered back to the ferry with them. There was a little panic as Nicky was called by nature away just as the ferry was arriving. But we did all get back on board prior to its planned departure. The intention once back was to have a lazy afternoon reading and catching up on email. Ian kindly invited us back to their boat for a short drink which turned into a solving world hunger event that did not finish till after 10pm. A significant amount of fluid was consumed supplemented with the entire stock of nibbles on board Zampa. We certainly crashed out very quickly once we got back to the boat – a lovely evening.

22nd July – Rest Day St Peter Port

We walked up to the Gardens above St Peter Port for the view, coffee and clear our heads. Another place on the planet that Gillian will not be retiring to given the steepness of the alleys. We thought we were walking to a set of tropical gardens. Sadly whilst we did spot some flowers they were hardly a show case garden. Nevertheless we had a pleasant coffee and tea cake before coming back down and walking to the Castle Cornet where the 12o’clock gun is fired each day. An interesting place built around 1206 when England then ruled Normandy. When Normandy was handed back, we kept hold of the Channel Islands. It was taken by the French for a short period between 1338 and 1348. During WW2 it was taken over by the Germans who made it part of the Atlantic Wall. We did a short walk around, climbing to the very top of the castle but our heart by this time was not in it and we soon wandered back to the boat via a very nice and unexpected fish shop where we bought a beautiful piece of tuna for lunch. Simply fried in butter – it was wonderful.

As we were relaxing after lunch we had a call from Sarah – ‘help, Jules, Annabella and Clarissa have broken down in the launch in a bay south of St Peter Port’. It felt like being on National Coastwatch Institute duties! Dudley and Ken left immediately to tow them back, whilst I kept in contact with Sarah. Jules did not have a radio and was not able to use his phone. There were a few minutes of worry as Ken and Dudley frantically tried to locate them. They were eventually spotted and rowed out to Xtract to extract them from the position they were in. They were back in harbour quite quickly. As this was a non sailing day we would not normally award the Duck is traditionally but we made an we made an exception and handed it to Dudley and Ken for their heroic rescue at sea.

The evening meal was in the Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club – unbeknown to many this was formally a chandlery. They were exceptionally welcoming – the entire club run by volunteers. They had laid on for us a BBQ with a crab starter and Guernsey Ice Cream with fruits for dessert. It was very cosy in their dining room but this added to the atmosphere. The food was fantastic – and plenty of it. A lot of banter around the table and bar! The award was made during the meal followed by Bill teaching us the sausage song to a well know Scottish tune. We were all sufficiently inebriated that we joined in with gusto. A tune that was then not forgotten for the remainder of the cruise and became our anthem. Thank you Bill!

23rd St Peter Port – St Helier

The day started well. We had been hemmed in by the French boat outside of us and two relatively large motor boats behind us. The French boat left at 0500. I got up to lend hand as he was sailing single handed. `By the time we came to leave, both boats behind us had gone. A dream departure for us. This was going to be our first racing start of the cruise – just outside the harbour. We were revved up to compete! Racing timer was on, mainsail was up just waiting for the start signal. Then ………… we were unable to get the foresail out, the furling foresail was jammed solid, not even the electric winch handle could move it. Whilst the boats sailed off into the distance, the toolkit was dug out and I went forward to try and fix the problem on a pice of kit I had no ideal how it worked. After taking out a couple of screws bobbing about on the water I felt this was not a good idea and could end in tears. The risk of losing screws and bolts overboard was too great. So it was back to the cockpit, motor on and motor sail on a single bearing for 19 miles. Not a great experience and it did become a little tedious. We rounded La Corbiere – an impressive headland – and then headed East to Noirmonth Point before heading into St Helier.

Once in St Helier we refuelled before finding our berth. I had been in negotiation with the marina for some time. There were complications as the main visitor marina did not allow dogs – but there was an alternative for boats with them aboard but this did mean splitting the rally which was not ideal. In St Peter Port I received a message that he could fit us all onto one set of pontoons but it was just outside the marina – for which I opted. But it was a bit industrial and a very long walk to the shows and ablutions. It was a bit of a let down initially but as time went on it was nice to have our own space all together where we could make as much noise as well liked without disturbing anyone! Bill and Ken were quickly on board once docked to help fix the foresail for which we were both grateful.

24th July – Rest Day St Helier

The party split into a small number of groups. Oliver and Ingeborg went cycling, Claribel went to the Beach and we went to the zoo – Gerald Durrell. It was a great day out. We got a taxi out and back with a very chatty driver. The zoo was a complete surprise – nothing like any zoo we had been to. Beautifully laid out and all the animals there were part of conservation breeding programmes attempting to maintain blood lines that were in grave danger of becoming extinct. It was quite inspirational. The highlight were the fruit bats in their enclosure handing from the roof and flying through the fine mist spray.

That evening we had drinks aboard Boysterous X. Again another non sailing day where we awarded the Duck. This time to Lynda – the Champion of Boules!

Bill and Nicky limped into port late in the early evening having left earlier in the day intending to head out to Sark. Sadly somewhere off Corbierre they picked up a lobster pot which proved fatal. They lost engine and had to limp back to St Helier. It was fairly serious in that they had in effect no engine for the remainder of the trip and were completely reliant on their sailing skills. From then on we all kept a look out for them and wished fair winds to move them along.

25th July – Additional Day In St Helier

This was an unintended additional day. We were due to go to Sark to anchor but a front had passed through the day before resulting in some big seas and not so great wind. We had decided we would spend an additional day here and alter our plans – instead of going to Sark we would sail directly to St Peter Port and from there make our way back to the Hamble.

The majority went off on a round the Island bus tour that was followed by a game of boules. Gillian and myself started the day with breakfast with Jules, Sarah, Willian, Clarissa and Annabella. They were intending to leave the boat in St Helier and catch the ferry back that night as Jules needed to return to work. Then come back out in a few weeks to pick up Claribel and cruise back in slow time. The morning was spent organising the dinner that evening before wandering around St Helier, stopping at various locations for drinks. We bizarrely also looked for bedding for the boat – not quite sure why – but anyway we failed to find what we wanted. The restaurant we chose was a little up market restaurant but overlooked the marina – Quayside Bistro. The menu looked great and we felt it would be quite nice to have a ‘dress up’ night out as the final dinner.

We were going to use the monies left over from the entry fees to offset the cost of the meal. There were some frantic WhatsApp messages to collect everyones choices on a spreadsheet and then share them with the restaurant. Prior to the meal we had drinks on board Stealth of Brighton with Dudley organising the potent rum dark and stormy drinks! This kickstarted off a very memorable evening. We also awarded a ‘cup’ to Oliver and Ingeborg for traveling the greatest distance to join the cruise!

Prior to the meal we sadly said farewell to Claribel as they made their way to the ferry for the overnight crossing.

26th July – St Helier – St Peter Port

This was an early start – so what is different you may ask! The weather forecast was not great in terms of wind strength and direction so we knew we would have to motor for a fair while. We were up at 0430 and away by 0500. Still dark. Zampa was out before us and we followed. Main up in the outer harbour before we set out for the first waypoint – Corbierre. The wind was as predicted – not very much and on the nose so it was a motor all of the way. The sea was still quite lumpy from the front that had passed through. Gillian had gone down soon after departing – not much point both of us being on deck. But after a couple of hours the wave motion got too much and a visit to the heads on knees was required. Daylight came up in a not particularly spectacular manner – greyish skies. The other boats had departed at the same time and we were soon line ahead to St Peter Port. The exception was Batfish who was having to do all of this under sail with no engine. We were all watching their progress hoping some wind would ease the frustration they were feeling.

We arrived in St Peter Port around 1000hrs but it had already felt like a bit of a long day and we were all quite drained. We found an empty berth with most of the other boats and shortly Ugly Duckling and Dino Volante mooring alongside. Gillian was not the only one to suffer mal de mer with Kirsten also feeling a little under the weather. Miraculously – despite the sea state – Ingeborg had created a culinary feast for lunch – Potato Salad with Frankfurter Wurstchen. The ‘little table’ was brought out onto the pontoon and we all were extremely grateful for a wonderful lunch with a little liquid to help the digestion.

We had been keeping an eye on Bill and Nicky who were struggling with so little wind but GREAT determination. Fred offered to go out ands tow them in the last few miles but they were adamant that they would do this under their own steam. And they made it to great cheers from all of us.

Before Bill had identified that he had a lobster pot around the propeller, the initial analysis was that the sail drive had not been correctly serviced and refilled with oil which lead to the gearbox seizing. All of us – even if only privately were thinking – have I checked the oil level in my sail drive! It is not the easiest of readings to take both in terms of gaining access and the shortness of the dip stick. That afternoon I went to chandlery to buy some top up oil …. just in case it was needed!

There was some discussion as to whether we stayed another day – a rest day – or set off very early (again) the next morning to get back to the Hamble. Bill and Nicky were staying as the wind was too light to sail. Dex and Julia also decided to stay for another day. The rest of us planned for an early departure back to UK – some to Yarmouth and some straight back to the Hamble.

That evening there were some impromptu drinks on board the boats although we decided to have a bit off an early night.

27th July – Return to the UK

It was a glorious morning to depart and a fitting end to a wonderful cruise. Again it was a 0430 reveille and we cast off by 0515. We were the inside boat with two others outside so there was a bit of manoeuvring before all departed. We lent a hand to move Batfish who was staying to enable Ian and Kirsten to depart. Then Headley and Ken departed followed by ourselves. There was no wind going back up the Swinge but the sunrise was fantastic.

For most of the way through the Little Russel and the Alderney Race we accompanied Headley and Dudley. Dudley knew these waters very well and picked up the Northbound current nearer the French coast which pushed up quite a way up into the Channel – I shamelessly followed him!

We did not manage to get much lift from the wind during the crossing so it was a bit of a long motor back till we got to the Needles. The two shipping lanes were navigated with little problem but we did come across a Nordic passenger ship travelling west to east north of the shipping lane who was determined to ignore us. Having seen our point of collission was less than 10 meters not miles I called them up 20 mins out – no reply. Called them again 10 mins out – no reply. The tanker which had altered course for us called them up – no reply. Despite being the stand on vessel common sense took over and we altered course to run down the side of the ship. It eventually answered the tanker as we were rounding her stern. They were either no-one on the bridge or deliberately ignoring our calls in order to stay on their course. Very poor seamanship.

We got to the Needles around 1900 – earlier than we expected and had a run of tide all of the way up to the Hamble together with a decent breeze. Most of the yachts had gone into Yarmouth for a last run ashore. Fred and Diane had persuaded Oliver and Ingeborg to go to the Hut – a very nice restaurant in one of the bays near the Needles. We were slightly jealous!

Meanwhile Ken had made it back in time for Supper at the Hamble Yacht Club.

We were having our own little last battle with the boat. The foresail decided to be stubborn once again and was jammed halfway in and halfway out as we sailed down the Solent on a strong tide and strong wind. Gillian was being remarkably calm despite a very long day and darkness falling. We took the main down off Calshot in quite blustery conditions and pitch darkness – 15kts+ – and motored up the Hamble. Fortunately the wind dropped and the foresail was not an issue with berthing. The lack of light was however an issue as we struggled to read the letters on the different pontoons. We were concentrating so hard we did not see a yacht behind us as we turned into our berth. Fortunately they were more on the ball then we were and were forgiving! A perfect reverse berthing with a great sigh of relief. With the lack of wind we disconnected the foresail from the sheet and just wound it around the forestay, opened a bottle of wine which we managed to finish quite quickly and then to bed.

28th July – Not Quite Over

The cruise was not quite over as yet. On the Thursday evening we had a farewell supper in the Club with many of those who took part. A very relaxed meal. Oliver and Ingeborg presented to the Club a personally inscribed look from the NRV and the Club presented a Royal Southern Pennant to them.

29th July – Still Not Quite Over!

On the Friday, Oliver had invited Gillian, Dudley, his daughter and myself to join both of them on a private tour of the Rolls Royce Factory at Goodwood. A huge privilege and a once in a lifetime event. It is hard to describe the factory as as factory, it is more of an art and design building. Stunningly designed, eco friendly, grass roofs, thousands of different shrubs and plants to support the multitude of bee hives and this was before you entered the building. Inside was equally impressive with bespoke art throughout. There was a huge amount of pride in what they did – absolutely everything was bespoke. As a customer you choose the colour of your car from an infinity of choices – once selected that colour belongs to you and can never be used again!

We had a final farewell lunch at Goodwood Aerodrome and all of us were slightly reluctant to admit that the 2022 RSrn Summer Cruise was now over. After two years of lockdown, these 2 weeks ere even more special. A lovely sail in the company of lovely friends in idyllic locations.

Post Script

Bill and Nicky made it back a couple of days later under sail. They were again frustrated with a lack of wind more or less drifting down the Alderney Race on tide alone. Nearing the Needles the weather gods took pity on them and they were soon alongside in the Hamble with a virtual cheer from the other members of the Summer Cruise.