Chichester Yacht Club Magazine June 2018 | Page 14

Gosport yacht cruise April 2018 — by Jerry Quinton, Kerry Dancer Despite what was threatening to be disastrously poor weather it all turned out to be a good sail and an enjoyable weekend all round for the five boats that joined the cruise to Gosport Marina for the last weekend in April. We welcomed seeing new members Paul and Jan and their Beneteau “Canapus” join the fun for their shakedown cruise of the season. There was very little wind forecast on Saturday and that was likely to be on the nose heading from Chichester to Gosport. There was also rain on the cards and very low temperatures for the time of the year. The rain held off and the wind was just ok to push us gently along and with enough northerly to mean a reasonable single tack to 14 Horse Sand fort and into Gosport from there. Nick Cole and his crew Tim also managed to find enough wind to push “Aquaholic” to the Nab tower and then onto Gosport. John and Jane Gosnell of “First Light” managed to man the club open day before setting off and still arriving in time for the pontoon party. We were moored very close to “Suhaili”, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s boat from his solo non-stop sail around the wor ld in 1968-69. Most of us had a good look at this famous piece of sailing history. There were also a large number of the Clipper round the world training yachts moored nearby which was an impressive sight.