Cruisers

Yes, it’s true, Sheila and I visited every sailing club in and around The Solent this year.  All sixty-five of them!  We think there are sixty-five but it could be sixty-six if you count the burnt out foundations of Birdham or sixty-four if you count the two widely separate Royal Southampton clubhouses as one.  Add a half for the still unnamed club-to-be which has just obtained planning permission and . . . . . Oh!  Never mind. Just don’t come to me in the bar and say, “I’ll bet you’ve never heard of this one?”  It could spoil my year – and yours.

It has been great fun.  We were welcomed in every club and our project aroused considerable interest.  Some had never heard of MRSC, so we invited them all to pay us a visit.  We hope they don’t all turn up on the same day.  Please make visitors welcome if they take us up on the invitation.

The idea of our summer ‘club crawl’ came to us back in January when we found ourselves sheltering behind a little hut on the cliff top at Chilling (look it up on the map) and saw, pinned to the door, a list of the flag officers for Solent Breezes S.C.  We had never heard of it but thought it would be a good idea to pay them a visit later in the season.  Then it occurred to us that there were other clubs we knew about but had never heard of.  Finally the project snowballed to include every club in and around The Solent and that turned out to be more of a challenge than we anticipated.

We tried to reach them all by water but in some cases it was impracticable.  Some clubs are impressively luxurious, The Royal Southern, The Royal Southampton and the Royal Yacht Squadron, to name but three, whilst others are very modest, offering little more than a space to launch a dinghy and a kettle to make a cup of tea.  But all are interesting and serve their purpose.

We particularly liked the club that has ninety magnificent racing catamarans but never races them.  Every weekend through the year they pick a destination that gives them a reach in both directions and then belt off for a picnic.  They have got it about right in my opinion.  We also rather admired the club that might blow up at any moment.  They have a document that says, “We ought to do something about the wartime pipe bombs buried under the Club.”  Unfortunately they can’t find any document that says something was done.  They were a pretty sanguine bunch of members propping up the bar but, if you do visit, please don’t bang the door. 

We were amused by the shock we caused at one club.  “Nobody ever visits us”, the Commodore said.  “We’ve got 150 members but don’t have bar.”  “What about the club next door?  “Oh yes, they have a bar and 1,500 members.”  Hmmm!

Having visited all these Clubs, Sheila and I are well qualified to tell you that MRSC is up there with the best of them.  We saw very few that offer the all round boating facilities we enjoy at such reasonable cost.  And let’s not overlook our social activities.  We found one club where they gather once a week for a quick race around the cans and then all disappear.  They admitted they have no social activity whatsoever.  Ah well, whatever tweaks your mainsheet.

Gordon and Sheila Kemp, “Marduk”

(“Marduk” is a 31ft Westerly Berwick sailing yacht).