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Cruising NewsBradwell CruiseOn Saturday the 1st May the inaugural cruise of the Summer of 2010 began with light winds and sunny skies. 18 keen boats had signed up for the adventure to Bradwell and all were keen to support the new cruiser Captain.
Silver Pearl left Brightlingsea ahead of the fleet to ensure berthing went smoothly for all and also so that no-one was able to catch sight of the new hair that Roger was sporting, not that a blue rinse isn’t very attractive for some older gents!!!
Some of the cruisers had decided to race to Bradwell and after an interesting start Pineapple ii announced that he was “on the putty” and “it has started to rain!”! After a cracking start Le Bot led the racers towards Bench Head until all the wind vanished and things started to go a little awry… Variable light winds proved to be challenging for the racing fleet and drifting became the norm, especially for Le Bot who passed number 8, 4 times! Cracker took the East shore whilst Flyer stayed in contention by playing the wind shifts particularly well. Pineapple ii, now off the mud made a fighting come back and managed to work his way back through the fleet. John Carr in Colne Clipper with the intention of photographing the motley fleet was driven to rum drinking and was heard to be playing sea shanties and singing “I’m an old Gaffer and I don’t care!” Meanwhile back with the racers, and 2 hours later Vagspel was heard to be requesting confirmation of what side he should leave Bench Head….some of the fleet were concerned at this point as to whether he would starve to death and the Coastguard were on standby to drop food parcels!
Over in Bradwell, Statajack and Silver Pearl arrived and then Graham Chasney appeared and demanded the services of a pilot to assist him in berthing. Roger and Janice were there to meet each arrival and selflessly managed a beer with most crews!
Once all had arrived a short prize giving ensued with Flyer winning the race and Pineapple ii winning the wooden spoon!
Some retired straight to the pub to ensure that dehydration did not occur…
Twenty six members then sat down to a meal at the Green Man and enjoyed a very jolly evening. It was fantastic to have such a mix of ages present and after a short speech by Roger the wine and beer flowed! So many new skills were demonstrated that evening and the pictures might shed more light on these!!
We ended up playing pool in the Marina Bar and Janice was on hand to offer support with shot selection!! Some skippers completed the race and returned to Brightlingsea with 13 boats staying overnight. Sunday was a completely different scene with near gale conditions producing some exciting berthing and unberthing. Barbary Rose with Adrian and Jane demonstrating a innovative way of exiting the marina sideways. The list of boats taking part were:- Silver Pearl, Colne Clipper, Le Bot, Flyer; Trixie, Merlin, Wandrin Star, Beulah 11, Vagspel, Barbary Rose, Statajack, Puffin, Ocean Brave, Cracker, Passion 11, Pineapple, Shearjoy, and Sea Astor. All boats returned safely within the next 24 hours after some lively passages, particularly little Merlin 11 with Shaun singlehanded. The next cruise is to Osea Island on the 5th June. Do let Roger and Janice know if you would like to go along!!
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