26 - 28 May

Report by Bill Jones

Liz Baker	Cormorant	Tessa
David Evans	Family 14	Sona
Colin and Jayne Firth	Cruz	Jenya
Chris Hieke/Doug Smith	Wanderer	Herbie
Roger Howard	Lune Pilot (14')	Catherine
Harry & Pauline Jackson	WW Potter	Hornpipe
Bill Jones/Rachel Ryan	Cruz	Arion
Ian Page/Paul Harrison	Suffolk Beach Punt	Peregrine
Tim Roberts	Kittiwake	Koriana
Alastair, Hilary & Jamie Sutherland	Lune Pilot (11'6" )
Ed Wingfield	Dockrell 17	Goosander
Attending without boats: Len Wingfield, Martin Corrick

This was the second year of this rally. The tides were the reverse of last year with evening highs, which necessitated care with both the causeway times and the mooring of boats in the drying harbour in order to be afloat at the start of the day's activities.
For Ed Wingfield and liz Baker the rally began on Thursday, sailing from Amble the 20 miles or so to Holy Island, and overnighting in the Farne Islands. When the rest of us began arriving over the causeway on Friday afternoon they were anchored in the lee of St Cuthbert's Island, and as the tide fell Ed's Dockrell could be seen setting off round the sandbanks on Fenham Flats, for the first of several low-water voyages to encounter the huge seal colony on the far side of the sands.

The flotilla gathered around The Ouze, where natural shelter from all but the SE is augmented by a stone pier. This, together with a large slipway, is controlled by the commercial fishermen who, it is reassuring to note, continue to make a living in this remote island. Informed by the lessons of last year's rally, we launched the lightweight boats over the beach into the Ouze, the bed of which is firm enough in certain places (for example close to the pier).

The heavier boats, or those with fixed keels such as the two Lune Pilots and the Beach Punt, launched on the slip, (which has raised rail tracks which have to be negotiated) or on an adjacent rocky beach. There was no sailing on Friday. The wind was strong - SE F5 - and the visibility poor. Some boats were rigged and anchored in deep water to be ready for a low-tide start in the morning. The three liveaboards - Liz (Tessa), Ed (Goosander) and Paul and Ian (Peregrine) gradually moved their boats out as the tide fell, and kindly kept an anchor watch on the unattended boats of the rest of the party.

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Saturday dawned quiet with a high overcast, and some of us left our B&Bs to launch shortly after HW (0618) and move boats out below the LW limit. After breakfast crews set out for a range of destinations - some to the Farnes, others to explore the many inshore creeks, several boats enjoying for the first time the close encounter with several hundred Grey Seals. Guile Point is a wide and unpopulated sandy headland, and several boats stopped there for mid-day breaks. The author of this report and crew beached Arion here for lunch, and observed rally members in various corners of the wide expanse of visible water, including the other Cruz (Jenya) sailing north towards the causeway, where, unknown to us, they were to have an extraordinary adventure

The day became hot and sunny, and with a slight sea the group that had sailed for the Farnes had a good day. Having explored The Kettle (a sheltered bay on the north side of Inner Farne, they sailed to the Outer Farnes, and took advantage of the good conditions by threading their way through the picturesquely named rocky features: Brownsman, South Wamses, Big Harcar, and Craford's Gut, before setting course home. On our return to the harbour we found some new arrivals, including the West Wight Potter Hornpipe and a second Lune Pilot Catherine.

That evening was the first of a series of splendid occasions in the Ship Inn, where the landlord gave us in effect exclusive use of his dining room and provided excellent food and wine for the company for every evening of the rally. The event of the evening was, however, the arrival of Colin and Jayne at about 10pm, announcing that they had successfully completed a circumnavigation of Holy Island. This was a major achievement and the first such circumnavigation for a DCA boat. They were saluted appropriately by the company as the heroes of the rally for achieving a very tricky and not without risk piece of shallow-water route finding which even the locals regard as a serious undertaking.

Sunday saw the fleet exploring inshore, and as it was on a falling tide everyone had a story to tell of running aground and in some cases narrowly escaping sitting out a whole tide on a sandbank. The channels are invisible when covered, and existing charts are entirely unreliable. It would be a valuable project to survey Holy Island Sands and its channels, and the NE region is debating whether to take this on. Chris and Doug (Herbie) had arrived the previous day and sailed out to the Farnes.

During the afternoon the wind strengthened rapidly and gave several of the fleet occasion to reef down, especially the crew of Herbie, who had set off from the Farnes in a calm, but soon found themselves reefed and sitting out, and Colin and Jayne in Jenya, who had sailed to Bamburgh, and while motoring calmly back again found themselves overtaken by strong winds, arriving in a flurry of spray back at the Ouze.

Many boats hauled out at the end of Sunday, ready for long journeys home. After another splendid evening in The Ship Monday saw most of us setting off, with only Tessa and Herbie remaining to explore the island waters. Ed set off in Goosander on passage back to Amble; the rest of us said our goodbyes and promised to meet again next year for what is surely now a tradition in the north east. Holy Island has remoteness, beauty, history, a picturesque castle and a ruined priory only yards from the harbour, the upturned herring boat sheds, interesting navigation, fantastic wildlife and a rugged reality in its commercial fishery and lack of yachts or leisure amenities. Yet it is much more than that. There is something that captivates the imagination and elevates the spirit in this place - which makes it an evocative venue for dinghy cruisers. There can be no doubt that we shall be there again for the late May bank holiday in 2002.

(Note on organisation. Ed and I (joint secretaries of the now official NE region) have aimed to provide the best possible support and information. We know members travel long distances. This year Tim Roberts offered to be Met Officer - and we had weather data every day, downloaded, printed and personally delivered by Tim to all crews in the early morning. Thanks are due to Tim for this hard work, which contributed so much to the passage planning of each boat in this rugged sailing environment.