The Autumn Jolly, one of our favourite annual events, was hosted again this year by Mike and Carol Gorvett who tested their guests with one of their fiendishly clever cryptic quizzes.

They had members dashing around Chichester Harbour to say nothing of searching for shipping at Bembridge Ledge. 'I see no ships' was the common cry as our members struggled out to the anchoring zone in poor visibility.

Had Mike made some dark arrangement with Southampton VTS or the QHM to spriit away the anchored ships or did we all need stronger binoculars? This must be the first time that there really were no ships at anchor, although a nil result caused serious confusion and howls of derision at the presentation ceremony.

Storm Petrel walked away in all humility with the prize not wishing in any way to appear clever. We are still not sure how many rooflights there are on the roof of Hayling Island Sailing Club which incidentally happened to be hosting the World Laser Championships (see Chris Smith's report here) to add to the pilotage challenges in the area.

A good day with plenty of breeze was capped by a convivial evening at the Chichester Yacht Club where a tasty meal was enjoyed by all those attending.

It is particularly pleasing to see new faces at almost every rally we organise these days and we are enjoying getting our rally numbers up to the levels we enjoyed in years gone by.