click on above for photos...
Holy Island 31st May – 4th June
2002
Joan and Tony Abrams
Falmouth Bass Boat
Pladdy Lug
Liz Baker
Cornish Cormorant
Tessa
Tim Delaney & Dick Houghton Loch
Broom Post Boat
Marian
David Evans
Family Fourteen
Sona
Colin & Jayne Firth
Topper Cruz
Jenya
Chris Hieke & Doug Smith
Wanderer
Herbie
Roger & Phil Howard
Lune Pilot 14
Catherine
Mike & Margaret Jones
(No boat)
Bill Jones & Rachel Ryan
(No boat)
John and Linden Kuyser
Westray 16
Rachel
Ian Page & Paul Harrison
Suffolk Beach Punt
Peregrine
Tim Roberts
Leisure 23
Coriolis
George Saffrey
Topper Cruz
Aurora
Bill Sergeant
own design
Micro
Graham & Kay Sowerby
Shrimper
La Mouette
Ed & Len Wingfield
Dockrell 17 Dolly
Peel (ex Goosander)
Walker Bay 10
Cuddy Duck
This was by far the biggest turnout for this rally, now in
its third year. The Jubilee celebrations extended the weekend by an additional
day, enabling crews to sail for up to four days in this beautiful and remote
location. The rally has now established its own traditions – sailing
concentrated on the Ouze – the natural harbour on the Island, and the social
life on The Ship, where once again we were made welcome and provided with the
exclusive use of the pub dining room.
Friday 31st May
With morning and evening tides the causeway was open for
most of the day, and boats arrived steadily. Len Wingfield and Liz Baker sailed Dolly
Peel and Tessa up the coast from Amble, while Tim Roberts this year
brought his cruiser Coriolis to be the ‘committee boat’ and
electronic operations centre (from which appeared immaculate met reports which
were ferried round the fleet each morning by Ed Wingfield in his brand-new
Walker Bay 10). Boats were rigged and launched, and thirteen of us met in the
Ship for the first of several lively evenings of food and drink. Ed’s two
boats made up arithmetically for the absence of my Cruz Arion; owing to
an immobilising sports injury I was kept off the water for the entire rally.
Saturday 1st June
Saturday began calm and sunny, with a forecast of
strengthening winds (up to F5) moderating later to fine and warm. Most boats
sailed on the extensive water inshore of the Island; Len and Joan set off for
the Farnes in Pladdy Lug but turned back in deteriorating weather. A good
lunch spot in a southeasterly is at Guile Point on the mainland, and several
boats gathered there, others meeting for a barbecue by the Ouze. Boatless and
unable to sail, I spent much time observing the rally boats as they came and
went, circling the seal-covered sandbanks or beaching for meals.
Boats arrived all through Saturday. Once again we had a
most interesting and picturesque flotilla, with a large proportion of unusual
and traditional boats. The estimate
for numbers given to the landlord of the Ship crept steadily upwards, and in the
event there were over thirty in the pub that night, joining in (but not winning)
the Jubilee quiz night. Discussion included the 1750 shipping forecast, which
did not promise well for Sunday - S/SE
4/5 occasionally 6, again moderating later.
Sunday 2nd June
By the morning the inshore forecast was threatening force 7. The problem was wind direction as well as strength – in a southeasterly there is little shelter. Nobody was in a hurry to set off in the cool blustery weather. One group sailed out to Guile Point for an extended picnic on the dunes by the tall obelisks (leading marks) on the shore; others sailed in the sheltered inshore waters to visit the huge seal colony on Fenham Flats. A few did not launch or sail but swallowed the anchor for the day and became tourists, visiting Berwick or Alnwick Castle. Some determined boats sailed separately out to the Farnes, meeting for lunch in The Kettle (anchorage in the Inner Farnes). Two crews left, a new boat (Roger Howard’s) arrived.
The evening in the Ship took its customary form of good
food, drink and conversation. We were aware the weather was deteriorating, with
thunder and lightning, and the liveaboards departed for their boats. What those
of us remaining in the pub and then retreating to our B&Bs did not know till
the morning was that with the thunderstorm a full gale blew up out of nowhere
and gave the fleet a severe battering and drenching, with wet and cold
individuals huddled on the shore sipping medicinal rum. Luckily most boats were
tucked in the elbow of the harbour wall, in reasonable shelter as the tide ebbed
and left them aground.
Monday 3rd June
Monday dawned clear and windless, and spirits recovered for
sailing. But an important ceremony had to be performed first – a boat-naming
for the Wingfield flotilla. Ed’s Dockrell was to be renamed ‘Dolly Peel’
(after a notorious South Shields character) and his new Walker Bay 10 was to be
christened ‘Cuddy Duck’ (the local name for the Eider). In homage to Dolly
Peel the baptism was to be in gin, and the ceremony was performed by Rachel,
accurately (and sparingly) sprinkling gin on each boat, before handing the
bottle round the assembled congregation.
The day was then spent at sea, out to the Farnes, round to
the North Coves (the wind being perfect for a lee on that side) or again inshore
round the sandbanks. As the afternoon wore on, boats returned and the retrieving
and packing up began for departure before the causeway covered.
All in all another successful Holy Island rally, with its
usual menu of varied sailing, abundant wildlife, challenging weather, and above
all the pervasive spirit of this remote, evocative island.
Bill Jones
