Oxey Lake Potter

Report on First Potter to Oxey - and Buoyancy testing

Well, the first thing to say is that we didn't get to Oxey!! However, the 7 boats that went out all had a great morning on the water.

We were all down at the Club in good time as we had the Buoyancy testing starting at 09.30. It all went very smoothly - many thanks to Nick Griffin and Meriel McCarthy for doing the honours in record time and everyone passed with flying colours.

One or two had pulled out of the potter so we were only left with four boats on the list and two boat crews down for Support duty. So, after some discussion with the Commodore, we decided that it would be more fun to have more sailing boats out on the water and thus not go up to Oxey, but do a shorter trip, therefore not requiring support boats. That freed up ourselves and Angus with Liz as crew to join in with our scows. I decided that we would go down Hawkers, tack up the Solent to Stivers - back down Stivers, out of Hawkers again than back home up the river. On hearing that we had decided to shorten course, Georgie and Helen said they would like to join in. So, the fleet was: John Turner with Stephen Ormrod (new member) Melanie and her two grandsons (sorry cannot remember your names) Andy with Jeremy as crew, Stuart, Georgie and Helen, Angus and Liz and ourselves. It was a perfect day for a sail; even the north-east wind was kind to us with only one gust to give some a bit of trouble, but all in all we felt we had made the correct decision, and returned full of enthusiasm for the coming season. We had our picnic back at the club with comfortable seats and a good supply of drink!

Many thanks to all who came along.

Last updated 15:34 on 4 April 2024