50.09.150N 005.03.747W
1630hrs 4 June 2012
The start to the Rally Portugal has had to be delayed due to the
expected gales in the Bay further into the week. The consensus amongst the rally
participants was that this was a good decision and one that we all would have
made as individuals if we had been on our own. Strangely, I think that I would
have set off had we been advised that the Rally was going ahead. This tells me
something about my group behaviour! – A note to myself “remember to make up my
your own mind in future – baaa!”. On land it can be a great advantage to meet
challenges head on; to step up to the plate; to tilt at windmills... but this
rarely results in your early demise. The sea is a cruel master and has no regard
for how big your boat is, how well equipped, or how much safety gear you have
invested in. The result is the same as far as the Bay is concerned. Three brave
souls decided to sail to Camaret on the basis that at least they would be
further south – and not still in Blighty. But most of the skippers opted to stay
put. Whatever the choice everyone is keen to avoid crossing the bay later in the
week with the prospect of spending 4 days in a gigantic washing machine waiting
for the spin cycle to kick in.
The Rally organisers have instead arranged
for us to have a day sail to Falmouth. The morning dawned, warm and blustery
with white cumulous scudding across a blue sky. Lovely sailing weather. Everyone
was glad to let go the lines and romp along the coast. The only incident was
being hailed by HMS Sutherland to be told we were crossing a live firing range
with firing commencing from “now till 1400”. What do you mean “now!”...we boldly
just held our course and tried to ignore them as the warship cut across our
stern and turned some of the rally boats away who were coming up behind...Plane
Magic reported that they had hear some irate fisherman use Ch.16 to direct a
well aimed expletive across the bows of HMS Sutherland. The outcome of that
confrontation is not known.
The evening found the Rally boats rafted up
in Mylor Marina, Falmouth. It was nice to be welcomed so warmly by the berthing
master, to be assisted with the rafting and to even be handed a power extension
without having to ask.
We await the evolving plans to restart the
Rally…


