The way I see it ..............

I heard that the weather at home was terrible whilst we were away in New Zealand, but it was not until we arrived at Heathrow in torrential rain that we really believed just how bad it was, and it appears to have been raining ever since.

The lake has never been more full of water, but the flood defences have coped well so far.  The water did flow across the road at one point, but it had been lowered some years ago so that Mill Cottage would be protected, and it worked just as it should.   However, the ground everywhere is completely saturated, and the water table is only just below the surface of our dinghy park, with lots of standing water and extremely muddy conditions.   The high winds also brought down a number of trees around the club, fortunately missing all our boats and the club house.  The fallen trees have all been cut up and cleared away and a tree surgeon has removed some lower branches in the dinghy park which will make moving boats around easier.   Thanks to all our members who have helped over this period with the clearing up, and running repairs.  The road has deteriorated so badly that it is only passable slowly and with caution.   There is nothing that can be done with the road for the time being, until it dries out, so please take care if you are coming to the club in the next few weeks.

Another casualty of our rotten winter weather is the Mariner’s Walk that was due to take place on 8 March.  Unfortunately, having taken advice, and looked at the conditions underfoot, we feel that it would be really difficult to plan an enjoyable and safe off road walk, so we have taken the decision to postpone it for the time being.  This is the first time this has ever happened, and I sincerely hope it we will be able to have our annual walk again next Spring.  If there is enough interest, maybe we could have our walk this year in the Autumn.  Watch this space.

Having seen the disastrous flooding in Somerset and the Thames Valley, if all we have to complain about is the loss of our walk and some muddy puddles, we should count ourselves very fortunate.  I do hope that none of you has been flooded or too badly inconvenienced by the weather.

On a brighter note, we had a splendid evening at our Awards Evening when 71 Mariners sat down to a delicious meal and after the awards had been presented, dancing for the energetic was provided by Mark and his disco.  Many thanks to Karen Tyrrell for all her hard work organizing a great evening.

One of our new members, David Whitmarsh, is a member of Brighton Belle Sailing Club, and has asked if any Mariners would be interested in a trip on their Oyster 55.  Their programme this year includes long trips from Plymouth to Vigo and A Coruna to Cork, 500+ mile passages.  Details are available at http://brightonbelle.org and http://brightonbelle.org/sailprog2014htm.

Our sailing season starts on 9 March with the Warm Up series, but before that there is the Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace to look forward to on 1 and 2 March.  Hope to see you there!

Adrian

This page is edited by the Commodore - Adrian Fisher, he may be contacted via the Contact page.

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