Home / News / Chichester (Itchenor) weekend Rally, 20 - 21 Jul 2024

Chichester (Itchenor) weekend Rally, 20 - 21 Jul 2024

Published 16:18 on 27 Jul 2024

Having attended many committee and planning meetings I know how hard it is to come up with fresh ideas for club rallies. This one was quite a departure from the norm with no berths booked, relying on luck and hope to acquire moorings, and dinghies for shore access. But it worked and we had a thoroughly enjoyable and memorable rally!

Stewart and Helen arrived on the Friday and spent a rather bumpy morning on one of the visitor's buoys. After speaking the Harbour Master, they then re-located to the mid-stream pontoon which was empty and luckily had capacity for the rest of the rally. It was also much quieter and more comfortable than the visitor's buoy.

Communications were issued and amazingly on a Saturday morning in July all boats managed to get a berth on the pontoon with no rafting.

Once moored each boat started pumping up dinghies and testing outboards. Stewart and Jonathan both had outboard problems and commenced stripping down the motors on the pontoon and making repairs which were satisfactory enough to get to the pub and back later. It is understood that one of Jem's crew, Chris, upon disembarking their dinghy had a meeting with water. Details are sketchy!

Following the mechanical mayhem on the pontoon, a flotilla of six dinghies made their way to the harbour master's pontoon and crews disembarked for the short walk to The Ship Inn for our evening meal. The Ship is a wonderful pub restaurant with a nice relaxing atmosphere, great food and welcoming staff.

The return trip to the pontoon was uneventful and apart from a distant firework display a quiet night was enjoyed by all.

On Sunday morning yachts started departing and with near perfect wind and tide enjoyed a fast and exhilarating passage back to Gosport.

The rally welcomed new members Andrew and Karen aboard Slipstream and we look forward to seeing them again at future events. Michael and Anne joined us in the pub for the evening meal.

Massive thanks to Jem for taking the risk on this rally which paid off and was enjoyed by everyone.

Stewart Velzian