(the Rally that was blown away)

David, Margaret Spensley. Wanderer ‘Rhapsody in Blue’
Bob Tarn, Jim Byers. Wayfarer ‘Mistral’
David Evans. Family 14 ‘Sona’
Ravi, Alison, Louis, Duncan Cascabral . Wayfarer ‘Yuki‘
John, Anne Eakins. Wanderer ‘Safari’s End’
John, Alex, Adam, Richard Hughes. Lark ‘Come What May’
Tim, Anna Roberts. - boatless
Vivian, Andrew, Mish, Ed Wingfield. Walker Bay 10 ‘Cuddy Duck’

Winds of f5-7 the entire three days blew the Rally away. Only Wayfarer ‘Mistral’ launched in order to sleep aboard. At anchor she was observed to be shearing about like a Waltzer at the fairground!

On Saturday seven of the Rallies’ company packed into a yacht for a trip to the Farne Islands. On return, when on the mooring, a locally owned Northumberland One Design dinghy was seen to capsize on the lee shore of the rocks of ‘Long Ridge’. Simultaneously, a 999 alert was sent by other DCA folk witnessing the incident from the pier end. The wind was westerly f6 gusting 7. The rig had gone over the side and the boat was awash, but the three crew had swum to, and successfully boarded their inflatable tender. We cast off our mooring and grabbed ‘em at the second attempt. The survivors were unharmed although a little cold. Shortly after, the skipper was taken by Sea King helicopter to hospital for observation. He was discharged next day.

Meanwhile, the Seahouses lifeboat had arrived and attached a line to the near sunken boat. Finally, after an hour’s tow she was attached to a drying mooring.

In the meantime our own scare was taking place. Due to the wind and waves we had a man-overboard whilst transferring from yacht to tender. The lifejacket self-inflated and he clung on to the swamped dinghy to re-board the yacht by ladder. No harm done.

The shoreside Rally pub meals and gatherings were the usual happy, chatty events.

Ed