New Page 1

Once again the PPC Shakedown was very well attended, we must have been close to a club record for the number of boats there.

Having dropped the dog off at the kennels it meant a late start (9:30am) for us as we weaved through the ever increasing hoards of Caravans I could tell it was going to be an interesting trip down. We left the A34 before Winchester as the Nav system was predicting long delays and proceeded to pick our way down to Southampton via some nice country roads, anything but stuck in a queue.

The weekend began for us on the Friday by taking Fly-By II down to Mercury from the river Itchen, this sneaky plan was foiled when we arrived at mercury to find several members were already there and bagged the best berth,s or so they thought. Mercury was ablaze with sun, as we sat up in the Oyster Quay I could feel my arms starting to burn.

Friday night was spent in the Spinnaker Inn with a few boating chums as we chewed over the plans for the weekend and the days events…

We arrived at Mercury to find it a hive of PPC activity, some boats had already launched and others lined up in readiness.

The “beach master“ Neil was awol so Mick jumped into his waders and assisted those not already launched spending 2 hours up to his armpits in the cool water of the Hamble only made bearable by the thanks received from grateful members who escaped getting their limbs wet. Every time Mick launched a boat and asked how many more there were Paul kept saying five. Still he ended up with a good suntan from the reflections on the water.

The rest of the morning was spent chatting to boating chums and meeting the many new club members we have this season.

The club allocated Boat buddies to the new to boating Members in order to give them confidence and support either by riding in the boat with them or keeping nearby.

It’s a long drag down the Hamble river but gives plenty of opportunity for Radio checks.

Once off Hamble point buoy we proceeded to have a couple of runs up and down Southampton Water to check out the boats, all seemed ok for most apart from an ill feeling crew on White Shark whom returned to base.

We bobbed around off Hamble Point for a while for re-grouping before word was given to proceed towards Cowes. Bluestorm took the lead with Rob at the helm on route to the Folly.

A nice long spot was reserved for us at the Folly and we subsequently disembarked for refreshments.

Back on the pontoon we were greeted by a rather curvy girl washing her doggy as he had obviously been mud wrestling, what a sight this was…!!! the skipper was quite bemused as to why we should photograph it, but then he was not looking from our viewpoint… see photos.

This activity had attracted quite a crowd of male onlookers and once joined by those departing from the folly taxi it was evident from the rush that the pontoon was sinking.

We then noticed a severe petrol smell which appeared to be coming from “Clio”, which was confirmed as her engine covers were opened to reveal fuel leaking from the fuel filters, which was soon resolved.

We all departed and headed back up the Medina River towards Prince Consort buoy to muster for a photo shoot. Once all boats had eventually made it we arranged a sail by of Bluestorm to enable photos to be taken. Some photographers on Bluestorm got a little wet together with their camera’s due to diligent boat handling of the few, but luckily Rob with his waterproof equipment perched upon the bow somehow managed to escape it all.

We set back off for Southampton with Bluestorm seeking revenge and renaming the crew of Clio to wet wet wet.

Back at Mercury is was a bit of a rush to secure the boats and head for the Spinnaker but we all made it.…..

It was nice to see so many old members and the new sat down for the meal, which as ever was excellent.

The weather did not look so kind today. Following the briefing we set a time for departure as 11am and set to work.

Promptly at 10:50am guess who broke down, yes 1^st prize for Sumprezi… The disappointed crew this time decided to remain at Mercury in at attempt to make a fix.

The boats split into two headed by Fly-By II and Rafiki. On the way down the Hamble River we met up with Escapology.

Boats :- Fly-By II, Bluestorm, Two Wreckless, Get In Wet, Khamsin, Escapology & Pendragon.

On the way over Fly-By II was greeted by some sailing boats giving him funny hand signals, something like the Nescafe advert where they magic the beans…. And another one that I can only describe as “Richard Head”.

We all arrived at Lymington safely with no causalities and proceeded to moor up on the buoys at Town Quay. We were very kindly provided taxi service by Pendragon and Escapology.

Once onshore is was straight into the “Ship Inn” ( had to have a nautical reference ) for some refreshment before moving onto the “Long queue” for the pasty shop. How the shop coped with an order for 20 plus pasties we are not sure but we all looked like grockles (holiday makers) perched on the sea wall feeding until accosted by the Harbour Master collecting the dues.

We departed back onto the club taxi’s and made back to the awaiting boats. On the way down river some of the boats topped up the fuel tanks for our intended excursion further south when we set our eyes upon another club members boat being helmed by friends and the strange sight of the complete hull actually in the water, how unusual.

On leaving Lymington we headed out towards the Needles for a spot of sightseeing and photo opportunity before anchoring up in Alum bay to partake in refreshments and biscuits.

We had a good run back to Mercury with no boating problems encountered with the sun disappearing from the sky and becoming overcast it was a case of dressing up warm.

Glorious weather dawned on the Sunday but a brisk breeze early in the day, after splitting the fleet into two rafiki led a group of boats out to the Hamble cardinal buoy with white shark, larimar, marmite aquilla and okada to set a course for Cowes only to beset with the first and hopefully last mechanical problem of the day. aquilla needed a tow back to Mercury and Tim in okada promptly obliged saying where shall we meet up. The decision was taken to cut short the trip to Cowes and venture up Southampton water to the River Itchen for tea. With a fast blast up Southampton water new members were able to experience high speed boat handling ably assisted by experienced club members such as Richard normally found at the helm of Caribbean blue a 31 ft sunseeker hot seating with blue shark who certainly had a big grin on his face afetr swapping the subdued waters of the Birmingham and midland s waterway for the unrestricted water of the Solent. The destination was decided to be shamrock quay and some members who have been visiting this area regularly were stunned to realise there was a very nice eating establishment on route to the local hostelry called yellow wellies where they have wellies on the tables. Okada managed to arrive just in time to enjoy the tea coffee and hot chocolate, whipped cream and marshmallows, beats a pint of shandy on a chilly afternoon. After the ubiquitous trip to the chandlers it was time to head back to mercury with a spot of high speed cruising on Southampton water with Lorraine on Larimar exercising their new boat some 24 hrs after purchase, on the way pausing momentarily to acknowledge Kisma coming back into the River Itchen after stretching its legs in the Solent. Back at Mercury it was time to recover some of the boats out of the water before the last of the tide with the remainder staying overnight for more to come on Monday.

Back at Mercury

Having moored up it was a case of make the boats ready for either recovery or further over nighting.

An excellent first on-water event which hopefully gave the newcomers a glimpse of the season to come and the way we operate at Pathfinder.

A full set of photo's is available from the members Only section of our website.