Laying Up Rally to Bembridge Tuesday – Wednesday 11-12 October 2022

We had 6 boats, 12 people and 1 dog on this rally so quite a good turn out for the last rally for this year.

  • Mandalay  - Sarah, Martin and Toby
  • Opus IV – Jane and Peter Matthews        
  • Fairwind – Sue and Barrie Pearson
  • Carenne – Chris Campbell, Bob and Gill Marshall
  • Jacob Faithful – Esmond Pope and crew
  • Frith – Martin Watson

Tuesday - High water was at 13.20 at Dell Quay and 13.23 at Bembridge and we were on spring tides. It was a sunny warm day (for October) but there was very little wind so I think all of us motored across.

Mandalay is on a mooring at Dell Quay, so we had to leave as soon as we were afloat at about 11.30 and arrived at the Duver Marina at about 14.30. This left plenty of time to enjoy Bembridge. Some of us went for a walk and a couple of us even had a dip in the sea.

We gathered at 17.30 for pre-dinner drinks on the pontoon, as there were too many of us to sit on one boat.

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At 18.30 we walked up to The Vine at St. Helens where we had prebooked a table. They made us welcome, and the food was quite reasonable. It was the only option available for food as neither of the sailing clubs were open and the Pilot Boat only does pizzas, and anyway is difficult to get to at low water springs!

Wednesday - High water was at 13.56 at Dell Quay and 14.05 at Bembridge

We awoke to this:-
 
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The early afternoon tide meant that we had more time to enjoy lovely Bembridge and the gorgeous weather. The Duver Café was closed, so most of us went to the Baywatch café on the beach for cooked breakfast in a box served with their usual panache!

We set off as soon as there was enough water over the bar at around 11.30. There was a bit more wind and it was from the south west today and we, on Mandalay, managed to sail most of the way back, luckily we had Toby to help us:-

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Looking forward to seeing you all on the water and off and many more rallies next year.