Nancy Blackett and her crew enjoyed a great Swallows and Amazons weekend last month, with the OGA East Coast Area and the Walton and Frinton Yacht Club. 

Having commandeered a Wagtail, we had a good time in the Saturday race, although with the light winds, it proved quite challenging, particularly when the spring tide started ebbing as we cleared Stone Point on an anticlockwise race passage. 

We made it around the islands, even though, along with several other boats, we did take a tow across the Wade before the tide stranded us on the mud. We felt that we would get across OK, but the safety boats wanted to get home and had we not taken a tow then, we would not have been able to sail up the Yacht Club’s creek as the wind had dropped almost completely in the narrow channel there and with an ebb tide. 

There were some great boats taking part, and a real sense of a “Swallows & Amazons” adventure for all of us, plus lots of seals for company too. For photos of the weekend see our Flickr album.

– John Smith