Leaving the marina on the 18th was exciting to say the least ! The massive waves were right on our beam , and felt as if they would roll the boat right over . We were all glad once we could get our sails up , and head off towards Eastbourne .
Sailing along the seafront , we were greeted with a fly past of the Spitfire , Hurricane , and Lancaster of the Battle of Britain memorial flight that was taking part in the Eastbourne airshow .
A very moving sight , and a truly fitting memorial to “ the few ”. We all went to the Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club for drinks in the evening , followed by dinner . We were all berthed in the North Basin , which is a very long walk from the local facilities !
The 19th was a lay day . Over dinner the night before , one of the cruise members ( who shall remain nameless !), came up with a challenge to find unusual uses for the CYC rally banner , alias “ the battle flag ”.
This led to members submitting lots of photo ’ s of the flag being used in various ingenious , ( and literally quite cheeky !), ways . There would be a prize for the best entry .
Sadly , due to the low cloud and poor visibility , the second day of the airshow was cancelled . A pop up pontoon party was held adjacent to Coco in the evening , and was much enjoyed by members who were able to attend .
The 20th was another lay day at Eastbourne , followed by the joint cruise dinner in the evening which was held at Pablo ’ s restaurant where the winner of the battle flag challenge was duly announced .
The proud winner was Bob Spencer of Raven , for his brilliant picture of the CYC banner being flown from the top of Beachy Head lighthouse .
He was suitably thrilled to be awarded his prize of a Premier Marina pennant , which had been retrieved from the deepest , darkest locker on Coco , and could have passed for an exhibit on the Antiques Roadshow . ( Nautical artefacts section !) He duly flew it proudly from his flag halyard , while the rest of us pretended we didn ’ t know him !
Tuesday the 21st saw us all set off towards Brighton , enjoying a lovely sail in company past Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters , which were looking their best in the sunshine . Thankfully , it was much quieter at Brighton this time , which made for a much more pleasant stay .
Wednesday the 22nd saw us all leave Brighton for our final trip of the cruise . Flapjack , Good day Sunshine , Ursa Minor and Resonate left us to return to their home berths , while the remaining four boats carried on to Gosport , unfortunately under engine again as the wind was on our nose all the way .
Drinks were held on board Willow in the evening , before we all went to the Great Wall of China restaurant for dinner , which was a very fitting end to what had been a brilliant “ Far East ” cruise .
Our heartfelt thanks go to our wonderful cruise leaders Steve and Cathy Martin of Coco , whose kindness , warm welcome , and good humour ensured that this was a very successful and happy cruise enjoyed by all .
The participating boats were- Coco , ( cruise leader ), Flapjack , Good Day Sunshine , Ursa Minor , Resonate , Star Dancer , Raven , and Willow .
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