The Westerly Owners' Association - East Coast and Thames Estuary

Blix rushing to reach Kingsferry Bridge in time for the next lift.

Dinner in full swing at Queenborough Yacht Club

There is an episode in the TV series ‘Father Ted’ where Fr. Dougal McGuire is allowed to arrange a funeral. This is beyond him of course and the resulting scene shows a hearse crashed and burning in the churchyard, hysterical mourners and the emergency services trying to sort things out. When Bill Miller asked me to organise a Rally in the South East, that scene came into my head, with a few extra yachts thrown in. However, I gave it my best shot and I am pleased to report there was no conflagration or mishap, and the event was actually very enjoyable.

The plan of the rally was for yachts to assemble at Harty Ferry in the Swale on Friday night, sail in company on Saturday to Queenborough and then crews would meet up at Queenborough Yacht Club for dinner in the evening. Despite poor weather on Friday, 8 yachts and a car assembled at Queenborough, and 20 people sat down to dinner on Saturday evening.

Friday was a wild day and the boats coming South had to beat against a South Westerly of force 6, gusting 7. On Friday night Stormalong and Limelight took shelter in Burnham; Falcon, Pholus Too and Leah went directly to Queenborough, while Janimari II, Astrid Therese, Blix and Fyliki made it to Harty Ferry.

Friday night at Harty was wet, windy and very lumpy so crews stayed aboard and tried to sleep. Saturday dawned much quieter so the crews went ashore to the Harty Ferry Inn for an early lunch before setting off round Sheppey to Queenborough.

The weather was still unstable so the crews at Harty decided to take the more sheltered inside route round Sheppey. They left Harty just after low water and crept through the Grounds – a shallow, narrow channel, leading up to Milton Creek. Starting early on the tide gave a bit of leeway in the event of a long wait for Kingsferry Bridge to open.

When the 4 yachts from Harty Ferry arrived at Queenborough, they found 4 Westerlies (Stormalong, Falcon, Pholus Too and Leah) tied up near the All Tide Landing. By 7pm all crews were in Queenborough Yacht Club enjoying a pre-dinner drink and arguing about who had endured the most unpleasant trip. To complete the line-up, Steve and Helen left their Centaur Tilly, stuck in the mud of Oare Creek, and drove over.

Everyone was made very welcome in the delightful yacht club at Queenborough and we all enjoyed an excellent 3 course dinner of good home cooking, freshly made by Margaret the Commodore.

After an enjoyable evening of good food and good company we all set off back to our boats, safely delivered by the Queenborough trot boat.

It was really encouraging that so many Westerly Owners defied the weather and made it to this rally, well done all. Let’s hope for fair winds and calm waters for the other rallies this year.