Thursday

Sandra and I made the most of the good forecast and arrived at Beccles on Thursday, first club meeting for ‘Pizzazz’! Tim and Dees’ boat ‘Bari’ was moored on the corner and new members Lee and Barbara moved their boat ‘Maytime’ from their Yacht Station moorings over to the clubs reserved area. Tim introduced us to Chris and Tracy who moor their Bayliner at the Yacht Station and are interested in joining the club.

Friday

Our friends Mick and Sue came up by car to stay on our boat for the weekend. Geoff and Anna arrived on ‘Woodstock’ in the afternoon for their first club meet followed by Dave and Dawn on ‘Ocean Way’ and Bim and Jackie on their yacht ‘Francis Mary’. Bim built the boat originally and has spent the last few years completely refurbishing her with still more to do to get her under sail again.

We all sat together on the river quay and enjoyed the afternoon sunshine.

Saturday

We awoke to overcast skies but the sun soon broke through for another glorious day with only a very light breeze. Sylvia arrived on ‘Cloud 9’ and promptly went off with Robert and Norma to take ‘Lisa J’ back to Hardley Dyke after major works at Derbys Quay. Sylvia got back much later and crashed out! Roger was next to arrive on ‘Tantalus IV’ followed by John and Lyn on ‘Lady Jolyn’ with Andy who came for the ride before departing for Southampton to play on big power boats on Sunday. Ray and Jo were next to arrive on ‘John Deacon’.

Dave and Dawn had brought the new marquee kindly donated to the club by Terry Lloyd and we all pitched in to get it erected. Although the new marquee is the same as the old one, it seemed to go up much quicker and looked really smart, until the pigeons started to christen it from the trees above! Job done so we all chilled out for rest of the day. Paul from Oulton Broad paid us a visit, it was good to see him back after his illness. Tony arrived mid afternoon on ‘Splashed Out’ and Steve and Angela and Keith and Sandra came in their cars.

BBQs got going about 5.30 with not a cloud in sight and we all sat outside until dusk and were treated to a lovely sun set.

We then assembled in the marquee for more liquid refreshment and a sing along with Bim and I. Bim was in fine form on ukulele and also entertained us with some of his funny monologues.

No heating was needed in the marquee and we didn’t even put the lights on, we just lit some citronella candles, very atmospheric! We wound the evening up about 11pm.

Sunday

More glorious weather. The demolition squad assembled and we soon had the marquee neatly packed away after cleaning the bird s**t off the roof. A big thank you to Terry for the new tent. Dave and Dawn took some friends for cruise up to the Waveney River Centre for a picnic and we took ‘Pizzazz’ in company with ‘Francis Mary’ for a cruise up to Geldestone, unfortunately the pub moorings were full so we came back. What a lovely stretch of river that is, so glad we can now get under the bridge.

Sylvia, Geoff and Anna joined us in afternoon to toast ‘Pizzazz’ with a bottle of champagne brought by our friends Mick and Sue. Dave and Dawn joined us when they got back.

Monday

The stragglers, Sylvia, Geoff and Anna, Dave and Dawn and Sandra and I all got underway during the morning and enjoyed beautiful weather for the cruise back to our moorings. Special thanks to Harbour Master Tim for seeing us all in and out safely.

What a fabulous weekend, fantastic weather with temperatures in the low 20’s during the days and mild nights. Let’s hope we get more of the same for our meets during the summer, the next one being the Northerns Run on 21st June at Stracey Arms Mill. Look forward to seeing you all. - John

P.S. First contenders for The Challenge Trophy? Anna and Sandra managed to drag a large lump of wood complete with 6 inch nails out of the river, this was a real hazzard to shipping, so well done girls.