The Westerly Owners' Association - South Coast Group

Yarmouth Rally 2008

The second South Coast Group event of the year and the forecast was for another gale, with rain and cold temperatures. But Westerlys are made of sterner stuff, and during the afternoon, the boats began to arrive at Yarmouth. Although a few from outside the Solent wisely decided to come by wheeled transport, by the end of the afternoon, we had six boats alongside Harold Hayles pontoon.

Busiris, Dunlin, Easy Go, Fair Encounter, Golden Dawn and Musketeer	Liz and Julian (who was celebrating his birthday – hence the hat with candles) on Golden Dawn

The theme this year was “In the Pink” – in aid of Cancer Research – and decoration of the boats and crews followed, with (pink) drinks and nibbles on the pontoon.

The prize for best dressed crew went to Sally and Vaughan Napier–Fenning of Musketeer as the “Pair of Scrubbers”
Prize for the best dressed boat went to Dunlin (John and Pauline Powell) with their theme of pink elephants	A special prize was also award to “Easy Go” for their extensive internal decoration on a pink boudoir theme (the pink curtains are just visible in the photo).

Following the prizegiving, we retreated to the comfort of the Bugle Inn for a three-course dinner. This was followed by a confectionary quiz, won by the combined efforts of “Karis” and “Brassed Off” (after a play-off) and a pink picture quiz, which was won by “Golden Dawn’s family team, assisted by Paul Goulstone and Sandra.

We then had the raffle, which, together with other incidentals, raised £167.37 in aid of Cancer Research. Prizes included a lifejacket donated by Force 4 Chandlery in Lymington, £20 voucher for dinner at La Vista Restaurant, Hythe, various museum tickets, including Explosion! and the Submarine Museum at Haslar, Marwell Zoo, cinema tickets, and numerous other smaller items.

On Sunday morning, most of the boats set off early to catch the last of the east-going tide. The sun came out on cue and several of the boats enjoyed a very pleasant beat homeward against the light ENE’ly breeze – a good round-off to an enjoyable weekend.