Written by Gordon, our Newsletter Editor, with contributed photographs.
With sixteen days of (almost) unceasing hot sun, no gales, no wet tents and a packed programme of activities, the 50th Summer Camp was almost too good to be true! Most of the events listed in the proposed programme took place although light or unhelpful winds meant that some proposed destinations (Coverack and Gillan) were not visited.
It was very good to see two new members (and their families) taking part and also very good to see some older members calling in; especially Alan W. (one of the founders of the dinghy cruising section) who joined us for the 50th Celebration Supper together with daughter Christine and Gareth (who sailed to Helford on their yacht) and Ian S. and his wife Penny who now live at Plymouth. Nigel C, an ex-member for many years, camped for a week, quickly refreshed his sailing skills and is now (again) a keen dinghy section member.
By the end of the first day (Saturday 1st) the slip had been made ready, the first few boats had been rigged and lowered to the beach and the first briefing held. The following two days saw cruises to the Helford River estuary and August Rock with visits to the Shipwrights Arms at Helford on the return – a pattern that was quickly established for the rest of the camp!
On Tuesday the winds were too light for a cruise to Gylingvase, instead, there was a
cruise to Tremayne Quay in the morning. In the evening, a large group gathered round Adri’s tent to listen to her account of sailing from Seattle to Portsmouth on one of the Clipper Round the World racing boats. We were all fascinated and questions came thick and fast. A truly memorable evening!
The following day took advantage of a morning high water for a paddle to Scott Quay for a late breakfast (or early lunch!). it was very pleasant sitting on the quay, cooking and chatting
The first long range cruise was to St Mawes with Edmund as OOD and with Steve in support. A very successful cruise with almost all boats taking part.
Friday’s trip was a paddle or outboard to Gweek. This was followed by Alan’s bottle rocket competition. As always, there were numerous entries and even more numerous spectators.
The results (as reported by Donna) were:as follows: the Mill’s rocket ‘On top of the world’ had the longest flight with the deployment of a parachute. Jamie and family ‘Man or Muppet’ won the overall best rocket although ‘Kermit’ was sadly missing in action. Roy’s rocket ‘Cider Copter’ (we think) was the best for engineering achievement.
The 50th Summer Camp celebratory supper was held on Friday evening, with wide variety of food (delivered to the site by Mr Sainsbury) and accompanied by Prosecco and a Celebration cake.
The supper was followed by Jamie and Clare’s quiz with a 50th Anniversary theme – several intriguing questions about the year 1976 for example! A novel aspect of the quiz was not just answering correctly but in trying to achieve a points score of 50 – the winning teams were: Flashy Crabcatchers (49.5) and Sugar tea and Rum (50.5), Leopard Print Duvet (47) coming second. Lost at Sea (57.5) came 3rd and Outnumbered (35) came 4th but won best team name.
The camp regatta was held on the following day (Saturday 8th) with the main race in the morning and an Alternative Helm race in the afternoon. There was very strong competition in both races, especially at the start of the main race. The winners were Roy and Jenny (Laser 2K) with Rob and Emma coming second and also winning the Comet Trio Trophy. (A full list of results follows this article). The Alternative Helm race was won by Jenny and Roy (Laser 2K) with Andrew K and family second.
As the Chicken Run was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, that morning saw a brief sail to Durgan and the Ferry Boat. The Chicken Run involved a sail out to the moorings before returning upstream into Polwheveral Creek before returning to a finish line off the camp beach. The fickle winds (and tide) did nothing to assist the Trophy holders (Roy and Jenny) but Rob B. and David N. (Trio) crossed the line with an error of only -3 seconds with Harry H. (Laser) achieving a very credible time of -12 seconds.
The plan for the following day (Monday) was to visit Gillan Creek, unfortunately the winds were very light and the OOD was unable to arrive at the final rendezvous in sufficient time to enter the creek. A decision was made to return home with visits to the Shipwright’s and the Ferry Boat.
With the help of floodlight provided by Steve, an evening of music followed, with performances from Mike’s choir and from Steve, Mel and Zac, plus some communal songs guided by Simon. Joshua’s version of Spanish Ladies was sung with much enthusiasm!
The proposed programme showed a walk for Tuesday morning and Debbie led a 4 mile ramble round the peninsular linking Flushing and Mylor. This was an excellent walk with grand views across to St Just and Carrick Roads. Wednesday’s plan was a cruise to Coverack but the winds were considered unsuitable and more local sailing was arranged. The editor spent the day packing but in the evening was able to join the party in the lane to watch the ‘near’ eclipse.
Jenny and I departed afterwards but Jenny C has kindly agreed to write up the final few days and her report follows.
Many heartfelt thanks to Steve for hugely entertaining weather forecasts, to Rob and Ash for conducting the morning briefings so efficiently, to Jenny C for doing so much of
the advance organisation and very special thanks to Jenny K who produced the 50th Anniversary tee-shirts and (somehow!) arranged the celebration supper!