Editors column

Since the last Log the Club has had several sailing events. On the first May Bank holiday weekend, three boats and 14 members visited Port Solent and Brighton. Don't miss Barry and Sophy's account of the cruise in this Log.

At the end of May, three boats, Pelagian, Fizzgig and Opalescence and 13 members visited Yarmouth and the Hamble River. On the Sunday evening Summer Song, my new boat, joined the cruise at Port Hamble, having sailed up from Brixham. We had a good sail back to our home ports on Monday.

The main event of the Sailing calendar took place from 14th - 21st June. Four boats, Fizzgig, Summer Song, Pelagian and Lalya, and 17 members crossed the Channel and visited France and the Channel Isles. It was a great week. Read all the accounts in this Log and make sure you don't miss next year's cruise - put the date in your diary now - 12th - 20th June 2004.

Several club boats will soon be starting their summer holidays and we would all like to read about their adventures. Please try to find time to write a few lines for the next Log.

Thanks. Pam Wyatt

SUMMER BARBECUE AT SPOONERS

I'm a lifelong pessimist and I know that when I'm going to a barbecue that has been planned for weeks, I can count on the weather being dreary, if not downright vile. So when the 4th of June dawned, a perfect day, I was quite sure that something else would go amiss. Would there yet be thunder and lightning? Half an hour spent crosschecking Onlineweather.com, Teletext and the BBC Weathercentre convinced me that it wasn't that. Had we actually booked our places? Yep - David Bennett had gone on holiday and left the attendance list with me so I knew it couldn't be that. Well, there was still plenty of time for something to go wrong.

But the day wore on and I finally had to face the palatable fact that we were going to a barbecue on a beautiful summer's evening. And as it turned out, we even knew everyone there!

I take my hat off to anyone who can cook presentable food on a barbecue and Brian Watson did us proud. He is obviously a bit of a closet chef but he "came out" with great style and treated us all to a feast of superbly cooked meats with chargrilled vegetables and delicious salads. On top of that, he forced puddings on us and wouldn't let us go until we had finished the lot.

Thank you Brian for a brilliant evening. And thanks to David for organising it all - it's a shame you missed it but there's always next year to look forward to. The only thing is, it'll probably rain …

Doh Williams