BBQ Cruise

by Linda Zaben

There were 5 boats off to the Folly on Saturday the 28 August. I was on Layla with Kath and Chris and Nigel. We set sail at 9.30ish and arrived at our reserved (courtesy of Doh) moorings in front of the Folly at about 4 in the afternoon. The Bar b Que was that evening in a lovely spot behind the Folly car park. We were well protected by the trees (luckily none of them caught on fire). Gerry Raby set up a swing for the children, 6 in all, various ages from 4 to 14. Think the swing got more use by the adults after the children had gone to bed. It all started off with John and Ian mucking around on the swing then them 'dragging' various females to join in the fun, Doh seemed to mysteriously disappear at this point only to reappear after the swing had been dissembled. Great fun.

After the swing people seem to gravitate towards the pub, which was heaving and after fighting my way to the bar I spent most of the night dancing on the tables along with Ian's daughter and Ian dancing on a chair. ( ed. dancing on the tables is an acceptable form of entertainment at the Folly.) After leaving the pub I joined Nigel and Kath and Chris who do a mean Le Roc, very groovy.

The following day we were entertained by a sailing school yacht running aground as it tried to leave its mooring. Various antics were used to try and free the boat including trying to be pulled along by a dingy with an outboard, a rope being attached to the mast and trying to heel the boat over to ease it off. There was also a walk to Island Harbour where we refreshed our thirst and yet another trip to the Folly in the evening and more dancing on the tables (for me at least). At the Folly I met Garry and Ginny the owners of Georgina Maybellina, who were telling me about moving their boat from Eastbourne to Brighton Marina.

Unfortunately we had to leave the Folly by 9am Sunday morning to have the tide with us. We had a great wind back so we sailed all the way arriving about midday. It was a great weekend, the weather was kind to us keeping the rain away and giving us lovely sunny days and good sailing winds. To top it all of the company was exquisite and the food delicious