Coordinators: Mark and Diana Glyde

14 boats made it to Harold Hayles for the weekend. The main feature for the weekend was without doubt the weather but in true Moody style we managed to still do all we planned!

On Saturday the wind was a south easterly which meant all were able to sail with the wind behind them all the way Yarmouth. Only ‘At Last’ an Eclipse 43, with Colin and crew on board were unable to do so. On her first outing after a major
refit of everything electronic, unfortunately someone forgot to turn the furling genoa back on, very frustrating for them.

The drinks party on the pontoon was a great success, only problem was the pontoon sunk next to ‘Argo’, much rearranging of fenders was called for and we all had to spread out a bit, continue chatting and making merry. The wind was starting to build and all were wrapped up well. Poor Annie, our commodore, was not well so didn’t stay for long.

We all then went to Yarmouth Spice where they looked after us all very well. The wind and rain then happened all night with all the yachts on a healthy heel to port as we experienced 50 knot gusts which continued into most of Sunday and a second night.
On Sunday it was decided we would walk to the Red Lion and see if they could squeeze us in, unfortunately the Westerly owners association had booked nearly every table, but as luck would have it the sun came out and we were able to sit in the garden out of the wind and enjoy a pint and a lovely lunch.

Take a look at the walkers standing on Yarmouth Bridge before heading off for lunch at the Red Lion – notice the yellow boots from our fashion guru Andy!

Boules competition in full flow.
We could see the barbeque and Boules competition was going to be a challenge on the beach, so the decision was taken to find some shelter behind the town sailing club for the boules and the competition commenced.

After some highly charged knock out rounds with detailed measurements we moved onto the final.
There were 3 finalists and the competition was at a peak, fortunately all managed to control their emotions and Elizabeth Sage was the winner, strongly supported by the rest of the Sage family.
The last item on the agenda was a barbeque, it was decided that Yarmouth citizens may not be happy to see us burning sausages in their lovely green so we went back to the boatyard and improvised as best we could on the slipway which was the only spot out of the wind
and not near any boats!

Monday arrived with a gentle breeze from the south west so we were able to sail most of the way home before the wind dropped away to Nothing!

Many thanks to Lawrence Gandar for for the photos.
Mark, Diana and the crew of Argo.