Friday 4th/Saturday 5th to Sunday 6th October
Boats began to assemble on Friday at the club moorings. Gin o’ clock came and went! Then 18 of us made our way to The Thurne Lion for a lovely evening meal, a good start to the weekend. Thank you Dave T. for being our local taxi service across the river.
Saturday morning had a misty start, then the sun shone through but initially there was no wind! Challenges were issued on WhatsApp and ‘Elizabeth’ left to secure a mooring in Fleet Dyke.
Challenge 1 was a self timed sail from Thurne Mill to Elizabeth’s bow, via Black Mill and Ant Mouth. The wind picked up a little and boats began to arrive at South Walsham. Fortunately, all eight sailing boats were able to moor side-on; Sandpiper, Pippinjack, Evergreen, Bewitched, Daisy, Wood Avens, Lily and Moon Daisy. The day progressed with various challenges, socialising and a walk.
Challenge 2 was how many words could be made from ‘Autumn Cruise’. No proper nouns and no ‘s’ to be added to the end of words to make plural. Well, the results were quite amazing with an incredible number of words 152 for the winning team!
Challenge 3 was knock out Connect 4 between boats which went on during the afternoon.
Challenge 4 was a ‘Dingbats’ sheet of 20 pictures, where you had to work out what each picture meant – some interesting incorrect guesses!
We assembled beside Elizabeth at 4.30 p.m. with chairs, drinks, nibbles and pens for Challenge 5 which was a quiz on nursery rhymes. This proved to be quite thought provoking and enjoyable for most!
We then prepared our evening meals, some folk sat outside to eat communally. This was rapidly followed by the lighting of the firepit, giving heat, light and a mesmerizing focal point well into the evening, complemented by fairy lights (thank you Sally). Many people enjoyed the ambience of a very pleasant evening, thanks to Mike for supplying the firepit and Mike and Paul for supplying the wood.
Saturday evening we had a visit from our lovely Skipper (Jamie) and Phil (who is also lovely)!
Challenge 6 was to write a limerick relating to water to be handed in Sunday morning. All entries were brilliant and read out at prizegiving.
Sunday morning we gathered at 10.30 a.m. for the final challenge. There were 2 buckets, one labelled ‘10’ and the other ‘40’ placed on the bankside at different distances. Each person chose 4 apples (kindly provided by Tom, thank you) to throw into the buckets, lots of groans at misses and lots of cheers when points were scored. Mention must be made of Roger who managed to break a bucket in spectacular fashion!
Prize giving – the winners were:-
Challenge 1 (self timed sail) Bewitched
Challenge 2 (Autumn Cruise words) Pippinjack
Challenge 3 (Connect 4 Knock out) Colin - Bewitched
Challenge 4 (Dingbats) a tie Daisy and Moon Daisy
Challenge 5 (Nursery Rhyme Quiz) Pippinjack
Challenge 6 (Limerick) Lily
Challenge 7 (Apple throwing) Betwitched
Overall winner for the weekend was Bewitched. Well done to them and to you all! Thank you all for coming, participating and enjoying the weekend and thanks to all who helped packing the gazebo away. The weather was kind to us too – no rain!
People then began their journeys home.
Thank you Soozie for the thought you put into planning the weekend, the ‘challenges’ and the thoughtful prizes!!
