HOA SOUTH WEST SOCIAL ON 27 NOVEMBER 2015

Held at the RPCYC in Plymouth, 19 people attended our annual social representing 9 Hurley boats. The evening started with the usual drinks and chat and photos and a video were displayed on a table for the local photographic award. We then sat in the restaurant to enjoy a good meal from the bistro menu of the club.

After this, photos and video were perused and members and friends, crews and partners voted to find the winner which was Colin Spraggs of H22 "Vixen" with his picture of his grandson as the young skipper at the helm of his boat. The trophy for this is a H22 half model which was beautifully restored by Kevin Mitchell, the previous owner of "Vixen" and we were pleased to see him too at the meeting. Despite his acquistion of a Sadler, he has retained his membership of the HOA.

We also have a trophy cup for our area achievement award and for this, Claire Templar with her H22 "Little Yacht Duet" was nominated and unanimously accepted after her successful completion of the Jester award, sailing single handed to Baltimore in Ireland, where she currently lives. We hope to see her back for the 50th celebrations if she can manage it.

After this, there was interest and some chat about the celebrations next year and it was good to have Steve Dart and James Green with us as they have done so much to get the event under way and are evolving and realising ideas all the time. It's looking very good!

Staff at the club could not have been more helpful and it was quite late when we all left after a great evening.

The next meeting of the SW region will hopefully be at the club again at a date to be decided in February or March

About the award of the trophy Claire says:"Of course I am thrilled to hear that I have been awarded the trophy again. Thank you to everyone! Hope you had a fun evening. Unfortunately though, I took the trophy back to the UK in October for safe keeping and to make return easier. So it currently has pride of place on my mother's sideboard. Makes taking a picture of it with me difficult though...I do have a photo of it here on my mantlepiece in the 300 year old cottage in Ireland, before it went back, complete with drips from leaking chimney and a picture of St Teresa."

"The 2015 South Rally took place at Deacons Marina in the River Hamble over the 18th/19th July. Dave Gowers kindly organised the event, and did so meticulously! Deacons has recently been refitted and has very high standard facilities. It also has a has a mean tide rip through the marina at certain states of the tide, which caught out more than one boat!

We had 6 boats and some over-land attendees. Dave Gowers and Jonathan Milward in H22 Blaze; David and Justine Edwards in H18 Womble; Cameron Kennedy in H22 Marlin; Kevin & Vicky Milligan in H22 Sirach; Tom Charman in H22 Lady Bird and Tim Sharman in H22 Strider. In addition, Paul and Jane White, Len Hiley and Mike Carter came overland.

It was a great example of an HOA rally with several people meeting each other for the first time and finding lots to talk about and share sailing experiences."

Twenty two members and one guest attended a most successful AGM at Poole Yacht Club. The move to Poole had been a very good idea, making it easier for some to attend who had been unable to attend Plymouth meetings. You can find the minutes of the AGM in the Members' area and below are some pictures of the proceedings and the post-meeting socialising.

A succesful Rally was held at Sparkes Marina on the weekend of 19th July. Here's a brief account.

This year's HOA South Rally was a great success. The weather was superb and almost made up for what we had for the last two Poole rallies. No less than 11 Hurleys with 19 crew assembled all together on the visitor's moorings at Yarmouth during the course of the afternoon. Drinks and nibbles on the pontoon started at around 6pm and we all drifted across to the Royal Solent Yacht Club for 7.30pm for an excellent meal. Well done to Tim for organising a splendid event.

In attendance were:

The 2013 AGM took place, as usual, at the Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club, where we were made very welcome, again as usual. As well as the normal business of the AGM the meeting agreed an update to the HOA Rules and also agreed to run a Photo Competition (details to be uploaded shortly). It was also decided that it was time to start planning for the 50th Anniversary of the Hurley 22 and the South West group will lead on this and will set up a working group. The Chairman's Report and the Accounts can be found in the Member's Area and the Minutes will be added shortly.

We were delighted that David Reeves and his wife Joyce could join us for the AGM. David Reeves was a design draughtsman with Hurley Marine from 1964 until the bitter end in 1975, when he was closely involved with the closure. David and Joyce joined the Committee for dinner in Plymouth on the Friday evening. After the business of the AGM was finished David gave us some fascinating reminiscences of his career and his experiences working at Hurley Marine.

In 2011 the South Area rally to Poole was blown away by strong winds, despite several boats assembling in the Solent for the crossing and other members in Poole area ready to support. So this year all eyes were firmly on the forecast as various Hurleys gathered in the Western Solent ports over Thursday and Friday, waiting for a decent forecast to cross Poole Bay. Ian Sinclair in H22 'Lalep-La', Steve Ellam in H24 'Rifleman Harris' and Tim Sharman in H22 'Strider' rafted-up in a wind-swept Newtown, whilst David Gowers and Jonathan in H22 'Blaze' and Paul Price and Liz Hansen in H22 'Intrim' enjooyed the delights of Yarmouth.

The promised W/SW F3-F4 on Saturday 14th July mysteriously drifted right to the Sunday, so that it was with a forecast of W/SW F4-F5, occ F6 at first, that 4 Hurleys set out early on Saturday for the crossing. Despite the wind and a lumpy, rather contrary sea, all made it to Poole and were safely tucked-up in Poole Yacht Club by mid-afternoon, to a warm and efficient welcome by Mike Carter (H24 'Mi-Solite'). Ian Sinclair very wisely decided that the forecast for Saturday and most especially for his return to Chichester on Monday, was not suitable for him or the boat and headed back east.

In Poole, everyone relaxed to enjoy the hospitality of the excellent PYC and lots of boat chat, with the added fun of getting to know new Hurley-owning friends.

On Sunday the weather had settled and boats dispersed one by one, after lots more cockpit chat, stories and photos. Everyone was very pleased to have made the Poole rally a reality and to have managed to make the best of the contrary weather. A very big thank you Mike Carter for his impeccable preparations and to the PYC for their welcome and most excellent facilities.

Ralph Smith (Penncirrus) has written an account of the Fowey Rally which is on the Torpoint Mosquito Sailing Club's website

Once again the AGM was held at Plymouth Royal Corinthian Yacht Club on 25 February 2012 and we were delighted that our President, Ian Anderson, and his wife were able to attend. You can find copies of the Minutes, the Chairman's Report and the Accounts in the Members' Area.

Another enjoyable Annual General Meeting of the Association was held on Saturday the 5th March 2011 at The Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club. As before RPCYC provided a stunning location and superb hospitality.This particular meeting was special for a number of reasons. Firstly it was attended by our President, Ian Anderson. It was a real delight to meet the man who designed our boats. Secondly, there was a presentation to Mike Sheridan, our retiring Treasure in recognition of all the work that he has done for the Association. Last but by no means least, it was an opportunity to see proofs of the Hurley Marine book that Tim Sharman and Nick Vass have written. There will be a full account of the meeting in the next Newsletter. In the mean time you can find the Minutes, the Accounts and the Chairman's Report in the Members' Area

Eight boats and 13 sailors gathered at the Dan Bran pontoon in Lymington for the HOA South Rally. Four arrived early on the Friday afternoon (Rigadoon Meridian 31 Paul & Neil, Gandalf H22 Rod & Donia, Mi-solite H24 Mike Carter, Honey H22 Howard and Jeremy) while four arrived during the course of Saturday (Strider H22 Tim, Lalep-la H22 Ian, Rifleman Harris H24 Steve and Blaze H22 Dave and Jonathan). On both days some of us travelling westward along the West Solent experienced some fairly brisk south-westerlies.Had there been a prize for the furthest distance travelled it would have been awarded to Howard and Jeremy who came from Portland. On Saturday evening we assembled on the pontoon at around 6.30pm for drinks and nibbles and then moved at around 8.00pm to the The Mayflower for a convivial meal. On Sunday those heading west left during the morning with the ebb while those heading eastwards left during the early to mid-afternnon to take advatage of the first of the flood. A fuller account will appear in the Newsletter and some pictures will be added to this site later.

A very succesful AGM, with 20 members attending, was held on Saturday, 6th March 2010 at 11 am at the Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club. Click here to read the minutes.

Another successful Rally was held by this group on Saturday and Sunday 26th and 27th September with six boats taking parts. For more details and some pictures click here.

There was a great turn out for the Salcombe Rally. Eight boats turned up despite a forecast for foul weather for the return home. There will be a fuller account in the Newsletter later. Mean while you can click here for a few more details and some pictures.

SOUTH RALLY
BEMBRIDGE, 11 - 12th JULY 2009

The South Rally took place as planned with six boats turning up despite the weather forecast and twelve people sitting down to dinner in Brading Haven Yacht Club. There will be a full account in the next Newsletter but you can click here for a few more details and some pictures

The Tamar Valley Group was launched on 8th May with help from the West Cornwall Group some of whom attended the inaugural meeting.

It's great to be able to report a good turnout for the rally at Marchwood Yacht Club over the weekend of 12 & 13th July.
We had four Hurley 22s ( Blaze, Kioni, Spindrift and Strider), a Hurley 24 (Curlew of Bosham) and a Hurley 27 (Gandalf). Boats arrived during the afternoon and early evening. All but two had sailed/motored from the east against a westerly F5 - so we all had some tales to tell. After pre-dinner drinks on the pontoon, a total 14 of us sat down to dinner on Saturday evening and had a great time swapping stories and anecdotes. Marchwood YC were friendly hosts, the galley did a sterling job, including breakfast the following morning! Everyone left during the course of the morning and weather conditions for the return journey were much more benign. There will be a full report in a future edition of the Newsletter. In the meantime here are some pictures which may encourage some more of you to come to next year's rallies. Click on a picture to see a larger version

A number of events were held in Cornwall during 2008, including the social shown below.

The Rallies in the 2007 programme were very poorly supported, largely because of problems with dates and the awful weather in June and July. However there was a succesful Southern Rally organised by Tim Sharman at Hornet Sailing Club in Gosport. Four visiting boats turned up: Mike Carter (Mi-Solite, H24/70), Ken McKenzie (Sulu II, H22), Jeff Moody (Curlew of Bosham, H24/70) and Nick Grogan (Kione, H22). Dave Gowers arrived by road and Tim was there of course - he keeps his H22, Strider at Hornet). It would appear that good food was eaten, good beer was drunk and many yarns were told. For further details read Mike Carter's report in the October Newsletter.

The Solent Rally was held at Marchwood on 17/18th June 2006. There is a full report from Nick Grogan complete with pictures in the July Newsletter

The East Coast Rally was scheduled for the Medway on 27/28th May. Unfortunately bad weather meant that any sailing had to be cancelled but a number of members met for Saturday lunch at Hoo Ness Yacht Club

The South West Rally took place on 1st/2nd July in Plymouth and there is a full report from Tim Sharman in the July Newsletter. Below is a photomontage of some of the many pictures taken at the rally. It looks as though everyone had a marvellous time. Perhaps the pictures will encourage more members to attend next year's rallies

The weather and other factors proved frustrating for those taking part and prevented them from getting to Cherbourg. However, a good time was had by all. A full report is in the October 2005 newsletter.