LSC boats gather with Narrow Seas and Maldon Little Ships at Brightlingsea

On Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 June, 17 boats and 51 people met for the annual Brightlingsea Rally. Sue Cossell and Richard Keen organised another superb and convivial event, writes Neil Stuart. This year it was a joint rally – the Little Ship Club was joined by the Maldon Little Ship Club, which formed as a breakaway group from the LSC in 1927, and the Narrow Seas Sailing Club, which did likewise in 1932. Gathering at the Colne Sailing Club, where several founding members of the LSC also belonged and much of the early history of our club took place, gave the event a special resonance.
The weather was mixed; one of those weekends where you feel you have experienced all four seasons in just a few hours. Friday offered nearly everything from warm sunshine in virtually flat calm to cloudy with F3-4, some rain at the end of the day and heavy rain overnight. Saturday morning was cloudy and breezy again. By the time we were assembling in the shelter of Brightlingsea, however, the warm sunshine came again, with stronger breezes. Sunday morning brought thick mist over the Blackwater and Colne, but it lifted in the afternoon to leave variable winds and more warm sunshine.

Rally-goers enjoyed a pontoon party before dinner and, for those who went ashore early enough, there was also the English Country Music Festival in full flow. Dinner was followed by some warm words from members of the four clubs present and a fiendish quiz [apparently Neil and his team have an unresolved protest on the quiz questions - ed]. On Sunday morning we were treated to bacon butties and newspapers before saying our farewells.

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