Excellent Cobnor weekend
On 18th April, three young members from Lancing SC arrived in Cobnor activity centre to take part in a weekend of training, organised by the super team of Crawley Mariners YC.
 After dropping the luggage in the rooms and having a quick look around, everyone went for a walk up to Cobnor point before tasting the first delicious meal prepared by Barbara, Julie and Heather. In the evening, people got to know each other better as they competed in a series of teams games, involving running around, throwing balls, going through hoops and a lot of laughter.
 The weather on Saturday morning was quite miserable, with strong winds and a lot of rain. With reefed Bosuns, reefed Magnos and a reefed Victoria (Donal's cruiser), the fleet practiced for a bit in the channel towards Bosham but soon went back to base with many frozen feet. The afternoon was a little more pleasant and we went towards Thorney Island. Unfortunately, the visibility was quite poor and we couldn't appreciate the view. Sailing was quite challenging though, especially on the way back to Cobnor when the fleet had to make progress against wind and tide. The sailors finished the training day by learning a bit more about knots and tying each others to chairs.
After a very welcome Saturday night dinner, we all went into the Jubilee room (the games room) to play the silliest game I've ever seen: Beetle Drive. Fierce competition from all designers!
Sunshine greeted everyone on Sunday morning, with a good force 4 wind to match. This was such a lovely contrast with Saturday! Diana and her team decided to go to Dell Quay, beach the boats there, enjoy cakes and juice, use the facilities and sail off again. That was the plan... everyone understood... and soon we were afloat again. The Chichester channel was teeming on that sunny Sunday morning and, after passing Itchenor, we came literally across the Chichester Merlin Rockets open. Our fleet had to tack through the close-packed fleet while trying to avoid the sandbanks. Scary...
The rest of the trip to Dell Quay was quite uneventful (apart from a capsized Magno, but Paul was helming, what else can you expect...). Dell Quay is a charming little harbour with a pub right on the beach. Unfortunately, no one had thought about bringing any money! Some of the organisers were mildly concerned at the disappearance of their Commodore. Donal, his Victoria and two of the youngsters never materialised on the beach.
 The sail back was a series of reaches, going through the Merlins once again. A some point, CMYC wayward Commodore rejoined the fleet, and his crew was fed and watered. Donal never quite understood we were stopping at Dell Quay, had a look around, never saw anything, turned round to go back to Cobnor, got there and saw the empty trolleys on the beach. Ohoh... He got the crew to do some more practice and zipped up the channel again where he was reunited with his club members. He's going to have to live with that one for a long time, I think...
We devoured a late lunch after putting the boats to bed, then it was the general cleaning of the premises, with instructors trying to get the youngsters to show a glimmer of enthusiasm about sweeping and mopping. Finally, Diana gave prizes to a few people who stood out that weekend and we were on our way back home, tired and loaded with wet gear.
 As usual, it was an excellent weekend, with a great atmosphere both on land and on the water. Our Lancing participants (Katie, Elodie and Matthew) learned loads and came back buzzing. Lancing youngsters are very lucky to have the chance to take part in this event. Crawley Mariners are doing a great job! Next weekend is 17 to 19 October. If you fancy coming, just talk to Mark at the club!
Photo-gallery available in the Galleries page
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A flutter on a canter 
On 25 May, Gavin is organising a sponsored stroll/bike ride for some of our younger members, under 8s or thereabouts, to Beach Green and then back along to Widewater returning after to the club. We'll cook a barbecue afterwards.
