Coordinators: Val & Geoff Lucas

The Folly Bop was scheduled for the 20 and 21 June and we were studiously watching the weather forecast for the weekend which did not look good. Our concern, in particular, was how we could organise a pontoon party in the pouring rain.

Saturday morning arrived to grey skies and thankfully no rain.

First to arrive, in fact they spent the Friday night there, were Heather and Trevor on Ossian, followed by a steady stream of 16 boats throughout the early part of the day.

A treasure hunt ashore had been planned and crews took themselves off in the afternoon eager to win the fantastic prizes for the winners.

Apart from joining a wedding at the local church all survived despite our only downpour of the weekend.

The pontoon  party went ahead with 46 participants, the weight of which had the pontoon dropping down so much our fenders started popping out.
At 7pm everyone met up for a pleasant meal at the Folly, followed by the results of the treasure hunt.

The winner was Jordan with the assistance of the crew (including Jody) from Imogen with the crew of JJ coming second after a tie break between three teams. This involved the rest of the gathering trying to answer the questions as well.

The Isle Wight festival had taken place the week before so there was some concern as to whether we would be able to have our planned walk to Newport on Sunday morning. Our concerns proved unfounded and in fact most of the path has been upgraded for wheelchairs and cyclists.

About a third of the rally had to leave early and needless to say they were the boats on the inside of the rafts, so a bit of organised chaos prevailed before the walking party could go ashore.

Everyone did their own thing in Newport and all the boats departed by about 3pm.

Many thanks to Val & Geoff for coordinating the Folly Bop also for writing up a report and providing photographs.