The season starts at Easter

The Easter Rally looks to my crew to be an opportunity for some creative sailing mixed with a liberal helping of social company and in the prospect of languid spring days with gentle following winds.

What will be the reality? As we look at the programme for the weekend there will certainly be a lively social content and with warmer weather setting in we should enjoy some good times on the water.

This has to be an opportunity for members new and old to fine tune their rigs for the season, to check out their engine services, to grease their winches and to stock up the fridge.

In the sheltered waters we enjoy around the Solent bad weather can nearly always be cheated but to travel around St Catherines light for the first time this year will be a pleasure. We are led to believe it is still there.

The finely tuned crew of Storm Petrel will be gathering at our berth in Southsea on Thursday. We will be listing to starboard where our fridge is situated and therefore instantly recognisable. We hope to set off westwards in the afternoon, probably stopping for the night in Beaulieu or Newtown Creek and arriving in Lymington during Good Friday to join the cruise. If anyone would like to join us on Thursday evening we would be very pleased to arrange a rendezvous to extend the weekend a little further.

From Beaulieu on Monday we shall probably also carry on somewhere else for a day so an invitation to join us in doing something more is open to all.

Click here for details of the Back of the Wight Rally

Roll on Easter, better weather and a happy sailing season.

Tim Bizzey

East Solent Fleet Captain