RALLIES

The club has an extensive rally programme each year starting in the Spring and usually finishing in November with the Frostbite Rally.

Club members who have a keen interest in sailing in company and socialising among good friends can take advantage of the club’s active rally programme which runs from early March through to the Christmas and New Year season.

The typical format of a rally involves a sail to a well-chosen venue in the Solent or beyond, on arrival you are assured of a warm welcome from your fellows who normally offer a glass of something alcoholic. This is most often followed by one of the RAFYC’s legendary pontoon parties where an epicurean mix of boat-made specialties is devoured along with further glasses of wine and good conversation and renewed friendship. The rally attendees are then typically welcomed at a local yacht club or hostelry to enjoy a fine dinner in company after which a number of members are found back on their boats with many welcome guests on board attempting to stay in tune for a group sing-song, long after the sun has disappeared below the lowest yard arms.

Next morning our members often appear surprisingly bright and bushy tailed for discussions on whether to join in the return timed passage (race) back to the Hamble.

Destinations for club rallies have included the local favourites such as Gosport, Bembridge and Cowes, moving out to Beaulieu, Newtown Creek, Lymington, Yarmouth, Chichester and on the other side of the channel to Cherbourg, St Vaast and the channel islands continuing to Northern Brittany. Club rallies frequently get booked up early and attract up to 40 boats. Impromptu rallies are started with two boats and their club burgees, attracting others to join in on the way to Brest, La Coruna and beyond.

The club rallies continue to be a major bonus to longstanding friendships!