Frostbite Rally March 26
Published 12:53 on 3 Apr 2026
Sometimes the Frostbite Rally, always the first of the season, lives up to its name and we've woken up on the Sunday morning to find a thick coating of snow on the decks. It couldn't have been more different this year; wall to wall sunshine, blue skies but hardly any wind at all! You can't have everything!
Some members did the sensible thing and came over to West Cowes a day early, but most of us arrived on Saturday morning. When we got to Shepard's Marina the very helpful mooring staff came alongside Nemo in their launch and asked us to moor up in front of Misty Moon on the outside of the outer pontoon. This was very easily achieved and the guys had by this time gone ashore so they could take our lines. All very easy.
For the next couple of hours the time whizzed by as we took lines from other boats as they arrived and helped them tie up, mostly rafted on the outside of Nemo, Misty Moon (Hilary and Brian) and Fruitbat (Sharon and Ian who did a fine job as Rally Lead and kept us all informed of what was going on and when). It was great to see some new faces: Claire and Simon on Emma Jane who admitted it was the first time he had ever rafted up, but it all went very smoothly. Every time I thought about walking into town to grab some lunch another boat would turn up, so I gave up and made some sandwiches for Nemo's crew instead. All very relaxing and great to say hello to old friends and new.
My friend Mark Stockham kindly agreed to crew Nemo with me and he decided to introduce me to the pleasures of Cowes Shopping. We took the very short walk into town accompanied by John and Lizzy Warner who were crew for Jonathan and Celeste on Blue Moon. And I have to say I quite like shopping! I didn't think I would but it was fun and we like to think we got some bargains with 50% off, but the prices were probably higher than elsewhere to start with because its Cowes, the sailing capital of England. Then Lizzy had the idea that we should all enjoy an ice cream and sitting in the sun on the (pedestrianised) street was, again, very pleasant.
We carried on in town, dropping by the Island Sailing Club for a cheeky drink before the sun went down (flippin cold in the shade!) before making our way back to the marina for a pontoon party hosted by Steve and Vizma on Bonito. Steve had made a tortilla and was handing out still-warm slices and they were delicious! Later on, Simon handed out great big chunks of his homemade cake, also delicious! Thanks chaps!
In the evening it was back to ISC for dinner. They always look after us there and once again the restaurant was packed with yacht club members enjoying themselves. They had reserved 3 tables for us in the conservatory so we could watch the lights of the vessels coming in and out of the river. A very pleasant evening with plenty of conversation between friends.
Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny again, but there was no hurry for any of us to get away, in fact at least two boats decided to stay on for another night. Another nice aspect of our rallies is that you can make your own arrangement to arrive early and/or stay on later. Mark and I were one of the last to leave but once again there was no wind, so we motored back to Nemo's home berth in Swanwick. The afternoon was still glorious sunshine so I took the opportunity to scrub the GRP on Nemo's topside which was looking rather grubby after the ravishes of winter. She came up looking beautiful!
All told, a very enjoyable rally in fabulous sunny conditions and it was great to catch up with old friends and make new ones too. We had 12 boats in total with I think 29 people getting involved at various stages. And a good time was had by all!
Jem Nicholls
Last updated 14:59 on 3 April 2026