Shop Till You Drop Ikea Cruise Report
Some yachts came from Lymington having been on David and Amanda Pearce’s ‘Haven to Haven’ cruise, and some came from the East, but all enjoyed a good sail. 12 of the 13 boats which had signed up managed to get to our first meeting point, Southampton Town Quay Marina, despite a forecast of strong winds during the week.
The marina staff were extremely helpful in sending a berthing plan for all boats beforehand, which was particularly useful as it was a first visit to this venue for many of the skippers. Despite this information the leaders got confused and tried to pitch up amongst the smaller boats, but they soon realized their mistake and were assisted by other crews into their allocated berth.
On arrival some scooted off with shopping lists in hand to Ikea and John Lewis and even Lidl, taking advantage of the excellent location of Southampton Town Quay marina (known as TQ). We did wonder how the flat pack wardrobe was going to fit into Good Time Girl’s forepeak!
A gas barbecue was available for our use and although it was windy and starting to rain, we had a good sociable evening, especially as we were able to move indoors in the dry and warm where there were ample tables and chairs.
On Tuesday morning we set off with a gentle wind on the beam but before we reached Calshot, the wind had increased and then a squall of over 30 knots arrived, so it was a short but challenging sail to Cowes.
The original plan for the second day to go to Island Harbour had to be changed, since the marina was having their lock gates repaired. But as usual the Folly Berthing Master managed to accommodate us all on the mid-river pontoon where we were joined by our Commodore, Simon and his wife Ali.
The pontoon party saw a good number of the crew dressed in homemade hats and head gear. The criteria was that the hat had to be made out of something that was found on the yacht. There were some very imaginative entries, the winner being Mike Howard, our deputy cruise leader, who made a hat out of the newspaper “All at Sea”, and the runner up, Carole Middleton on “Raven” utilized some paper plates to make her hat adorned with a small raven. Some ate on board whilst others took the water taxi to the Folly Inn for a meal where we found the table service excellent.
We had kept a close eye on the forecast which gave strong winds for the day we were due to return to our home ports, hoping it would change from the 30-40 knots forecast. No such luck – no change. Most people needed to get back home so unfortunately the third day, when we were due to visit Hornet Services Sailing Club, was cancelled. This was a pity since many had not been there before and a meal had been arranged, and an added bonus would have been that their bar prices are very reasonable. C’est la vie! Another time hopefully.
So on Wednesday morning we left the Folly to have a cracking downwind sail home. This was an uneventful trip arriving in Chichester Harbour before the strong winds came at lunchtime. But of course it was Chichester Harbour Race Week and we had to negotiate the large fleets of dinghies getting ready to start their races. This is being written the day after our return whilst it is blowing Force 7 at Chimet. It was good to be out sailing, but it’s good to be home!
Thank you to all those who joined for our ‘shopping’ cruise: Star Dancer, Coco, Sounio, Hermit 2, Raven, Silver Shamrock II, Aquadisiac, Jasper, Good Day Sunshine, Good Time Girl, Seabird.
Graeme and Helen Jupp