5 boats gathered in Yarmouth Friday afternoon (La Ina, Tri-Riba, Tap Dancer, Paddington IV & Harmoney). Tri-Riba very kindly hosted impromptu drinks, where the slightly dubious looking weather forecast was a key topic. With the wind forecasdt to pick up from “spot the puff” to “blowing old boots” we all agreed we were going to go via the central Solent. In the end, there was a decent breeze during the day and some good sailing around to Bembridge was had. The evening forecast was as promised although I did not see any flying Dubarry’s.

With HW in Bembridge being relatively early, it allowed some time to chill out, go for a walk, fill up empty water tanks after 3 weeks cruising,  or check out the upgraded facilities. David & Caroline very kindly hosted us onboard Harmoney for a pre-dinner drink. I was pleasantly surprised to get 12 of us down below. We then caught the Bembridge water taxi over to Haven YC for a wonderful meal. On our way to and from dinner we were reminded of how challenging Bembridge Harbour can be, with one crew spending the evening at quite an angle adjacent to the water taxi berth until the tide came back in around midnight.

La Ina had been cruising the west country for the previous 3 weeks and so this made a fitting end to 3 weeks away on the boat.