Coordinators: Roy and Angela Matthewson

All was prepared for twelve boats to go  onto the Dan Bran pontoon at Lymington for the Easter weekend.

The pontoon party fare was prepared for Friday evening and the ladies were all ready to hit the shops and to enjoy the street market on Saturday.  Dinner was booked at Lymington Town Sailing Club; on Sunday morning, a guided tour of Lymington had been organised and tables had been booked at The Fishermans Rest for Sunday evening.

On Good Friday morning the sun shone and the wind was fairly light. However, the weather forecast for later was not encouraging with gale force winds and storms forecast for Easter Sunday.

On Solar Eclipse, we made a decision to cancel sailing and go by car to Lymington for the dinner on Saturday evening.  We were not alone – many other skippers opting to travel by land.  One brave boat Ossian did sail to Lymington on Friday and returned to Portsmouth early Sunday morning.

So, we all had a good gathering on Saturday night (despite a very wet drive to Lymington) and wind speeds of up to 100 mph were recorded at the Needles during Sunday night.

Easter Bonnets will have to be saved for another year and we are now looking forward to the rest of the season.

Roy and Angela Matthewson.   Solar Eclipse.