Mersea July 24

We had a good turnout again at Mersea this year with 15 Seavets at the West Mersea Holiday Park (nee Seaview) plus Mike and Meg Brace who were staying with friends. The Tuesday weather was mixed but the early arrivals did get out for a mini-cruise to the town and on to the Strood and back in light winds. The winds on the Wednesday were to strong for the cruise and the sailors who went out were on short boards and small (5.5 to 6.5m) sails. I had hope to sail but had a slow puncture on the van so spent the afternoon in a Colchester tyre shop. Those who did sail (Owen, Simon, Martin) report conditions as difficult with a lumpy sea; they did however enjoy it. A local sailor said that high tide is not the best time as the sea is often in a confused state just where we sail, but easier conditions are around low tide and closer to the town. As it was the Euros semifinal we had an early BBQ outside Joe's caravan and headed to the club house for kick off at 8. A good if noisy crowd cheered England on to the hoped for result.

The next day had looked promising for the cruise but on the day the winds were lighter than forecast and insufficient to be confident we could complete the rounding via Brightlingsea. In fact there was not enough wind to sail until about 1430 when it had swung round from the SW to the SE. Whilst we waited we played boules, visited Mersea and discussed the attributes of Andy's download device: Linda was riveted. In the mostly sunny weather six of us did a repeat of the Tuesday cruise

round to the Strood and back, stopping for tea, cake or ice cream in the harbour and in the now steady SE wind had a good sail back. Thanks to Richard and John for organising

Steve