Club members were invited to sail in to Lymington to join the Lloyds Yacht Club for a barbeque on the first weekend in September.

Robin Whaite had kindly offered to be organiser and to arrange some training exercises so a small but enthusiastic team of Little Shippers found themselves signed on to what turned out to be a testing seamanship challenge with exciting prizes to be won at the end.

There was a clever quiz to be completed with one hand whilst navigating the boat with the other and at the same time presumably using one’s feet to steer around a course which had obviously been planned to gain least advantage of the wind.

The crew of Storm Petrel pleaded old age (sorry that should be maturing years) in order to slide out from under the test and instead offered to anchor outside Newtown Creek with beer and sandwich in hand to try and catch out those yachts that inevitably would dodge the rules and miss out Hamstead Ledge green. Well these self-appointed rally marshals sat there for what seemed an eternity and saw only Ariel recovering from her quiz challenges and then who should come by but the rally organiser himself. We think he might have been going to give the green a miss but must have seen the marshals, by now having their afternoon forty winks, and made a last minute crash turn to port and whizzed around the buoy and headed away over the horizon towards the barbeque.

The evening proved to be a most enjoyable occasion in company with a large Lloyds group and after puffing and blowing at our BBQs we all ate well, made new friends and headed happily thereafter to our bunks.

A pleasant weekend of good weather and fellowship sailing in familiar home waters.