Page 13 - Yachter Autumn 2021

area we met Helen and Diane; who both immediately made us feel welcome, and invited us to the daily outdoor coffee gathering as soon as we had settled in.When we were asked to join Laurie and Anton
for Sunday lunch at Gins in December, we really felt that we had arrived amongst a great community of friendly ‘like-minded’ people.
When we re-located permanently, in February 2021, we were encouraged to join RSYC – like many of those living on the marina.We had previously been members of the Royal DorsetYacht Club,but due to our being Norfolk based were rarely able to see people.To be immediately absorbed into such a welcoming group here seemed to be ideal, and we signed up with enthusiasm.
Lapwing has since joined in several fun weekends away; the club rallies are a great way to meet new friends and much to Martin’s delight Muriel has become a much more willing sailor, having previously left most ‘boat’ activities to Martin and his co- owner (also called Martin, hence Martin
is more frequently called ‘HB’ as there are
multiple ‘Martins’ elsewhere in our lives too.) Our first rally was a Saturday night
in East Cowes; drinks on Slipaway were followed by an on board dinner, and an amble up the Medina River on Sunday morning all a great taster of what was
to come.The Bembridge rally was very enjoyable - a careful watch of the tides, given that Lapwing draws 1.9m, meant we arrived later on Friday than most people, but a good weekend was had by all, albeit shortened by 24 hours due to the inclement weather forecast for Bank Holiday Monday. A walk on the beach on Sunday morning was completed with kite-flying, at which Anton proved to be very accomplished.
The last rally we attended was to Yarmouth.There were again three boats fromVelsheda Court as well as others from the marina community, and several from RSYC. Having not spent much time on the Isle of Wight for some years we enjoyed wandering around Yarmouth and going for a lovely walk along the attractive northern shore. Saturday evening was spent at The Royal Solent Yacht Club, where we all had a very good and ‘socially distanced’ indoor meal, which ended by watching a beautiful sunset. On Sunday evening the six Velsheda Court residents went for an Italian meal – it felt good to be ‘out and about’ in a fairly busy restaurant again, after the restrictions we have all endured over the last sixteen months.
We have been made to feel so welcome by neighbours and RSYC members, that
we are very pleased to have made the move from Norfolk, and Muriel has been surprised by how sociable the usually reserved HB
has become.We look forward to many more sea-based adventures in the coming months and years, particularly when HB spends less time travelling back to East Anglia for work.
Muriel and Martin Hadley-Brown