Despite an uncertain forecast, some 50 Norman sailors raced across the Channel to Weymouth this weekend, in conditions which ranged from pleasantly breezy leaving Cherbourg on Friday evening to calm mid-Channel, to 30 knots within minutes around 8am – for one boat the first sign of the wind coming was a mini-tornado!
The pace had been set by Philippe Hasne’s Open 60 ‘Fuji’ which arrived on Friday evening after a 6-hour passage, in good time for an aperitif on deck followed by Marcel’s ‘boeuf bourgignon’ and some excellent cheese. Times recorded on Saturday morning were slower, of course - 13 to 15 hours on corrected time.
It was great to see old friends back here again, but also to meet sailors from Fécamp and Granville who had heard about the event and were very taken by the welcome everyone received at our club - which on Saturday night also included Christchurch, Lyme Regis and East Dorset Sailing Clubs, for whom Tracey was also working her customary magic in the galley. The only club a bit under-represented was our own..
Steve and Josie Dadd had taken the challenge of feeding 50 hungry French men and women personally, and without their hard work the event just wouldn’t have happened; Steve’s skills as a barbecue chef, and Josie’s in making delicious salads, were such that our guests kept coming back for more, so that the Vice-Commodore even had to cycle to the shops in the rain for more supplies! Euan also supplied the gazebo which the weather eventually made necessary to keep the cooks and cooking dry.
The ‘pièce de résistance’ was provided by new member Cheryl Wise, who very nobly volunteered to make a cake, and what a wonderful one it turned out to be – to the extent that at first no-one dared venture to cut it! Eventually it was cut by Sylvie and Anne from YCC, and Euan from WSC; Cheryl then provided the expertise to divide it up into delicious portions, one of which was already being eaten on Sunday evening by YCC president Jean Le Carpentier back in Cherbourg!
A huge thank-you to everyone who worked so hard to make the event almost as memorable as last year’s party in Cherbourg – and of course the next one isn’t far away, so make sure you’ve booked the weekend of 20th-22nd of June off so that you can join us ‘over there’!
Steve Fraser
Cruiser Class Captain
