The Autumn cruiser rally this year (30 September – 1 October) saw cruisers Caramba!, Emelita and Solitaire with their owners Andy and Vanessa, Roy & Jenny and Mike, provide berths for Anna, John and Chris H respectively.

It was a little surprising that the historic popularity of this event was not the case this year as the conditions were absolutely ideal.

We gathered at POG for the customary coffee and cake. This gave us the opportunity to meet each other and to discuss the overall plan for the day before setting off to take advantage of the ebbing tide out of Portsmouth Harbour and the favourable tide westwards along the Solent. The southerly wind direction and 10-15 kt strength for both days meant that we were able to make quick (just touching 10 kts over the ground at one stage!) and efficient passage to Lymington where the first boat arrived about 2 pm.

We were allocated prime berths in the Town Quay closest to the ramp to the quayside. Some of us took advantage of the spare afternoon to wander up the High Street to visit the well-known street market.

As the organiser, Andy had made the most important booking – a table at a good nearby restaurant.

We had a table in a prime spot and the ambience was spot on. The chat flowed freely but sadly the service and food delivery was somewhat slower and we missed out on the opportunity to have dessert due to lateness of finishing our main courses.

The following morning was quite still in the marina, but by the time we made it out into the Solent we had a healthy wind to speed us homewards. To make the most of the eastward tide we set off at 9am with a potential plan to stop in Osborne Bay for lunch; however, we arrived in the vicinity a little too early for lunch and decided to complete our journey to POG and take lunch there.

Many thanks to Andy for organising the rally and to the skippers for making providing berths for other members.

John C