An excellent few days in Poole were enjoyed by those camping at Huntick's Farm - as well as the usual suspects is was nice to have Nick and Fiona Rose as well as James Leeming. On the Sunday Richard, John and myself met at Lake Pier for what turned out to be the best wind of the week with 2 to 3 hours planing in the straps with John trying out his foil for a bit.
The campsite has changed since we first visited - the delightful small field we normally used is now full of seasonal caravans, fewer trees and little charm. A wet evening limited social interaction outside but a bit if football was watched in Andy's van. Monday was crusie day. eleven took part i, L to R, Maurice Humberstone, Dave Rabbetts, Steve Fletcher, Andy Lacy, Joe Coulson, John Chubb, John Ellis, first time cruiser Nick Rose, myself and taking the knee James Leeming and Simon Barker.
As you can see we had lovely sunshine but fairly light winds, even so we made good time running down to Giggers Island, rounding without problem in a clockwise direction, the wind freshened a bit as we beat back upwind to our lunch stop at Shipstal point, arriving there after 2 hours on the water.
After a pleasant lunch John Chubb headed back to base as he had travelled down for the day and needed to get back in good time. The remaining 10 set off again and picked our way through what we discovered later were several clam fishing boats. As we sailed round Green and Furzey islands we became fairly spread out as the winds were now a bit tricky between the islands, 4 of us got through and landed at Shell bay, only to find the cafe shut, and with the remaining 6 a long way back decided to head back and intercept them. With the wind expected to fall lighter we cut back between Furzey and Brownsea island and had a pleasant run, in close formation all the way back to Lake pier, this was another 2 hours on the water, making it four hours in total for the 20-mile trip, fairly slow going but a very enjoyable day cruising round this very scenic harbour.
The fine weather continued into the evening but with thunder clouds gathering our BBQ was cut short by heavy rain. Tuesday had light winds forecast again so the party split into a sail to Sandbanks and back, or a bike ride to Blandford Forum (see pic on bridge over the Stour). The early evening was spent in the local pub watching England's most amazing performance this century (I am reliably told!) and were joined by Dave Gilchrist who had driven up from Weymouth. Thanks to Joe for organising. Wednesday was again light winds and most returned home. What we had lacked in wind was more than compensated for by the jolly and sociable company.
PS next trip is Mersea island on the 13th 14th or 15th July, more details later.