The Lydney Leap
Chris, Blake and Kieth got up in the wee (silly) hours on Saturday morning and found their way into the formidable sea lock at Sharpness after a nice relaxing drink at the Dockers Club less than 9 hours previous. The wind at this stage was not kind and all of us found it hard to moor our boats (must have been the sauce with the steak)…High water was around 07:39hrs so we ventured out of the outer basin at around 07:00 and chose to take the all familiar route to Berkeley Pill before turning to starboard for Lydney lock. Chris, at this point make the immortal mistake of saying to Blake on the radio “Flying Lady, Flying Lady we are now approaching Lydney and if you were thinking of having a play, now is the time to do it”. At this point, Flying Lady certainly lived up to her name as she passed Chris at 25Knots. This was so joyful to see, until the wall of brown water from blake’s boat reached Chris’s beam. “Thank you Blake” Chris replied under his breath (as a gentleman he is).After much frolics, all 3 children / skippers crept into Lydney lock at slack water like children walking slowly from a playground after playtime.We were then joined by Tony Crook who came in on the afternoon tide.Much fun was had during our visit including a trip on an old train into Lydney town, visits to “real ale” pubs and shopping. A local taxi service provided the ride home for all of us and costing just £8. Some had a BBQ and some had a home made curry but all visiting the welcoming arms of the members of Lydney Yacht Club.Another early start for all of us and not as much sleep had for any of us as Chris Fisher started his engines, waving his arms in the air and moaning loudly about the rate of which inverters drain a boat’s batteries after leaving them on and falling asleep. Blake was the first out of the lock as he turned into the fast running tide to starboard. Chris Fisher, rolling a cigarette, flying out of the lock at 10 knots discovered that Blake was flanking the entrance, this was nearly a serious issue as Blake found full throttle astern. Keith and Tony followed and once again the frolics started as the children found their way into their watery playground to release their ambitions to once again look like crazed frantic madmen at the helm of their life’s savings.Alas the fun ended at around 08:30 as all meandered into the outer chamber with lighter fuel tanks and Keith wondering if that green fender that was on it’s way to Minehead really belonged to someone, pity, Chris has 5 just like that…….. I wonder if he had 6 at one time………..
PS: Thanks to all the women folk for putting up with our antics....