| DCA South Coast Winter Meeting held on SATURDAY, 9 February 2008 at The Crown Hotel, Emsworth from 6pm until 10.30pm This meeting was very successful this year and was attended by 33 members and one dog, including eight members from the Hostellers Sailing Club, who were staying nearby for the week-end. Before the meeting, on a beautiful sunny day with light winds, eight dinghies ventured forth into the Harbour, new members amongst them, and this in February! The first hour was given over to general chat, giving new and old members a chance to get to know each other and to catch-up on their news. At 7.30 the hotel laid-on a huge spread of food. Liz then showed a selection of slides taken by herself and Steve Bradwell at rallies during the year. John Perry followed these with some interesting slides taken at the sailing festival they attended in the Gulf of Morbihan in Brittany, and some of their East Coast Hostellers SC activities. The final part of the evening was devoted to a discussion on how we cook on board our dinghies. |
Winter meeting Daysail from Warblington Road Hard, 9 February 2008 Alistair Law Tender Newt Steve Bradwell Enterprise Len Wingfield Gull ASA Phil and Sapphy Oxborrow with Jemma the dog Mirror Jo Oxborrow Canoe Dave Sumner Mirror Curlew Alan Glanville Ness Yawl Lowly Worm Chris Partridge Rowing Skiff Cliff Martin and Sarah Sorenson Mirror Daydream Unidentified crew who might be new DCA members Nick Williams and daughter sailing from Langstone SC Westray 16 I have mentioned near perfect conditions before but today was unreal. Constant gentle useful wind with warm sunshine and a mid-day high water perfect for a lunch stop. It's a shame some members couldn't get on the water. New member Sarah Sorenson, who also sails a Mirror and traditional yachts, joined me in Daydream. Many thanks for your company Sarah, it was great sailing with you. Len Launched first and we almost immediately overtook him. Accordingly, he turned into a different channel and pretended he had planned this all along and everyone else followed. We saw Steve on our way down to Sandy Point and he took a photo of us getting in irons. Apart from this the fleet was just an occasional sail on the horizon. I phoned Steve from the beer garden whilst I was waiting for my steak and ale pie to arrive wondering where he was but everyone else had gone to Fowley Island for a picnic of bread and water. During the course of the day, Sarah and I had a look at Fowley Island, Sandy point and Oar Rythe from the water and stopped off at Northney Marina and Langstone village. We cut it a bit fine on the tide getting back to Warblington Road and did our fair share of ploughing through the mud getting back to the hard. There were channels we could have crept up for some time yet but until the tide went out a little more were hard to locate. With thanks to Len, who has encouraged us to sail all year round, these Winter Meeting day sails get better and better. Cliff Martin. |