Autumn Camp at Cobnor
Another successful camp was held at Cobnor on the weekend of 20th and 21st September. The weather forecast during the week before didn’t look promising for camping and sailing with gale force winds forecast on the Saturday. This later changed and the low pressure was not so deep so most of us decided to go ahead with the camp. It was, however, quite windy on the Saturday afternoon. We managed to sail on the Saturday morning and on the Sunday without difficulty.
The first to arrive at the camp in the scenic grounds of Cobnor House was Bill who had a lovely sailing day on the Friday. Bill had been on a sail up the Thorney channel for us do as a group on the Sunday. Most of us arrived Friday evening and set up tents in pleasant warm weather. Saturday morning was overcast but with a morning weather window for sailing before strong winds arrived. Edmund and Joshua arrived for a day sail. Those camping overnight included two families who are new members to Cody: Alex and family plus Johan, Tamarin and family who sailed in a nice GP14.
Martin sailed with Edmund and Joshua while Debbie and Chris sailed with Simon in his Comet Trio and Mike sailed in Rob’s Trio. It was a nice wind in the morning for a quick passage to Dell Quay which was a reach and then a run. We arrived in good time for an early lunch stop; we weren’t allowed into the pub with our wet gear so instead we went for a pleasant lunch at the sailing club. While we were sitting out on the club decking having lunch we could see that the wind was increasing and realised that the storm may be on its way. So we quickly finished lunch and set up the boats for the return to Cobnor. We thought it would be a tough beat back but the wind had switched to a reach and moderated a bit so was a pleasant sail back and reasonably quick with the tide.
We got back to the field for early afternoon. The storm still had not arrived when we arrived and it was sunny and pleasant having tea but by about 4pm the wind did suddenly increase. We sheltered in an inflatable gazebo eating cake that Debbie had bought to celebrate her upcoming birthday. A few went to the pub for the evening while others stayed on the field and had a BBQ. The wind was strong but there was no rain; the wind moderated by the evening.
Sunday morning was a pleasant sunny day with a gentle breeze. Bill lead the sail to Prinstead. It looked a short sail as the crow flies but involves sailing out to clear a long spit before continuing up the Thorney channel and landing at the top of Thorney Island. We swapped boats and crew from the Saturday sail with Chris now sailing his Weta single handed and Martin launching his Wayfarer and sailing with Mike and Simon. This time. Rob sailed with Debbie. The GP14 sailed four up skippered by Alex.
We arrived at the top of the harbour at High Water. There is a beach to land on but there was
only small amount of landing space and another group had arrived before us. We were on a spring tide but there were some mooring buoys to tie up our boats where we could get out of the boats in waist deep water. There is a pleasant café here run by the scouts in their scout hut where we stopped for lunch. It was an excellent place to stop and enjoy coffee and cake! We would have stayed for a while in the sun having an extra coffee but Bill came back to tell us: “the boats are drying out!” So we finished coffee hastily and headed back to the boats, set up and left.
The sail back was mostly a reach with a North Easterly wind and going with the tide until near the end of the sail where we head back to Cobnor point. We got back in good time, ready to pack up boats and tents; most were off the field and heading home by about 5pm. Bill stayed another night and once against had the peace and tranquillity of the field to himself. It was another wonderful camp and always a pleasure to stay at Cobnor. The weather was better than expected and we had a lovely sail in company; thanks to all for making it an excellent weekend.