|
|
TOLLESBURY AHOY! (A new member’s perspective) 
I had two goals for the weekend: Highly successful on both counts, which was doubtless pleasing to my fellow shipmates, I had a great
weekend sailing. We donned our massive waterproofs and took our buoyancy aids (more akin to straight jackets than life
jackets) and set sail with the friendly folk from Fellowship Afloat. As soon as we were let loose on the open seas
around East Mersea, the wind dropped, and the water was as calm as a millpond. Unperturbed, we had an early lunch
and returned to our fleet of trusty Wayfarers for the afternoon. We soon got to grips with the nautical terms being
Jane Lawrence 
The lightvessel we were staying in was excellent. It just starts to float at high tide,
Since there was a good turn out, (25 of us), we had some surplus funds from the weekend. They looked after us so well at such a bargain price, we've sent a donation and a letter of thanks to the Fellowship Afloat Charitable Trust. Dave Plummer 
It all began when sleeping bag laden YHA's descended on an old moored light vessel at Tollesbury. Saturday dawned dull and misty- I couldn't work out whether the view from the ship was like being at the bottom of the sea or on a moonscape! After donning ourselves with 30+ layers we waddled along to our motor launches out to the Wayfarer sailing boats. After preparing the boats we floated around in search of any wind, still the sun bathing was good, especially on Mersea island. In the afternoon the wind turned up and demonstrated its force by causing booms to hit Trevor and I over the head!! In the evening nearly all of us descended on the local boozers for a refreshing drink and tales of the sea!! Sunday dawned breezy, so Dave, Alison and I voted with our feet for a lovely educational walk around the spit. We even passed the site of a Victorian pier. What a pity Tollesbury did not become another Southend! See Dave for excellent bird pictures. All in all it was a great weekend and so near home. The light ship was well accomodated and the food excellent. They even supplied enough custard for Trevor! Thanks Nigel! Roz Owen
Having a Good Wine Some sixteen of us turned up to be educated on the subject of wine by that very nice man from 'Bottoms Up'. Many of us felt like we'd been on the sauce already when George arrived promptly at 8.30 (who can remember the last time that happened?!). However I think the award for the most dedicated attendee must got to Dave, who bravely cycled the 30 miles into work that morning to avoid drinking and driving. Of course he ended up having to drink for two as Alison was driving him home at the end of the evening! But I must say he bore the trial very well. The evening started off with a selection of three white wines including a wonderfully tart Sauvignon Blanc and a Californian Chardonnay. This lead to some reminiscing as it was Debbie's encounter with a Californian Chardonnay that lead to her less pleasant encounter with the Park Rangers at Bryce Canyon (but the less said about that the better). 
Next we moved on to the reds comparing a dry light Minervois with an incredibly rich Grenache-Shiraz and a Cabernet Sauvignon somewhere in-between. James (from 'Bottoms Up') demonstrated how to show off in restaurants and look like we really know what we're doing when we taste wine. He also told us all sorts of interesting things like American wines being generally sweeter in flavour than their European counterparts, and Cabernet Sauvignon having a blackcurranty flavour when compared to a nice plummy Merlot. A splendid evening was had by all, even if we did feel less than sophisticated by the time we eventually staggered out of the YMCA! Thanks indeed go out to James, for entertaining and informing us for the evening, and to Roz, who not only organised the event but got landed with the washing-up at the end! Alison
A Day at the Dome On a sunny Saturday in March ten of us went to the Millennium Dome (along with 35,000 other people!) Gerry & co turned up late, having got off the train at Canary Wharf, seen the dome looked close, and started walking to it, only to find a rather large river in between!! ("What's remarkable about the scale of the Dome is the way you can see it from all sorts of strange places. From the north bank of the Thames it looks so close you wouldn't believe there was a river in between." - Richard Rogers, architect) Highlights included the Morphing machine which could show you what you'll look like in 30 years time, and also show what a cross between Jim and Tom would look like. We were there from 10am to 8pm; most of the crowds had gone by the time we left, but we still didn't see everything. Some of the zones were a bit disappointing and the Body zone was rather odd - not really sure why it seems so popular. Everyone enjoyed the Blackadder film (except those of us who missed it because I spent too long in the Journey zone). But overall the Dome got the thumbs up from us - "one quite good day". Dave P |
