Cowes Shepards Marina Saturday 18th April Sunday 19th April 2026 - Second Rally of the 2026 Season

Published 13:07 on 1 May 2026 by Sue PEARSON

A Tale of Two Headwinds It was the best of times . . .But so easily could have been the worst of times for a rally set on making good progress to Cowes and back to Chichester again, under sail.
An early provisional forecast for the Cowes rally indicated WNW winds for Saturday veering overnight to ENE winds for the return to Chichester the next day. With a weather going spring tide, it was definitely going to be either the best or worst of times – depending on the strength of wind and how fond you were of sailing into it. Would we be in for a boisterous, slow slog or a fast, elegant sail ?
Following on 18 days after the successful shakedown rally to Bembridge, six boats had registered for the first weekend rally – to Shepards Marina Cowes. In the event, the isobars remained optimally spaced and so, with a mid- morning departure on Saturday from West Pole, we found enough breeze available to make steady progress westward and were assisted in gaining ground to windward by the strong tidal flow – tacking in the Eastern Solent without encountering any hampering Solent chop sea conditions.
By early afternoon Fairwind was berthed in Shepards Marina with Niobe arriving by mid – afternoon. Hobo arrived a little later, but by then was part of a queue of arrivals whose berthing was delayed – all were made to stand off the marina for 15 minutes or so by the antics of two yachts manoeuvring and obstructing the marina entrance – whilst marina staff supervised their jousting contest for position.
By this time Hobo had missed the opportunity for an alongside berth and so was then summoned in to raft up alongside a boat with high topsides and guardrails. Soon after this Moontide was moored up alongside Niobe and then Mandalay and Altair arrived and rafted alongside each other at the far end of the pontoon.
All were invited aboard Hobo for pre-dinner drinks and nibbles, but first had to negotiate the high topsides and guardrails of the boat moored alongside the pontoon; the owner of which sat in his cockpit with a careworn expression – as a succession of smartly attired, DQSC rally participants were forced to fender-step, hurdle and twang their way over his guardrails on their way over his foredeck in order to board Hobo.
Some forty-five minutes later, the owner still in his cockpit, watched now with a somewhat bemused expression, as the conga line of all fourteen of us twanged our way back over his foredeck and descended to the pontoon in order to set off for the evening stroll to the Island Sailing Club. It was a busy Saturday night at the ISC, with rallies from two other clubs also booked for dining. However, the Club was very well organised to cope with this and we all enjoyed a very convivial evening with good catering; all of us seated around a long table that was set for DQSC in the Beken room.
On Sunday morning, with a strong east going tidal flow from 07.00, all were up and about unravelling shorelines for a breakfast departure. As predicted, the wind had veered, but not so far as to be unable to lay a course back to Chichester, close hauled on the port tack. In sunny conditions, with a steady breeze and under full sail in smooth water, the sail back was indeed – one of the best of times and so early in the season.
Ron Foden
Photo credits Martin Greenhalgh and Liz Merrick