I'm really sorry, but i'm going to have to pull out of organising the Lymington rally on September 3rd. My sister Corinne had a hip replacement operation towards the end of July, and I've been staying with her while she recovers. Because she lives on her own, she needs someone with her until she's able to dispense with crutches and I've only recently learnt that this will be longer than I originally thought - the hospital is saying 4 - 6 weeks. We sailed Delphine to Dartmouth before Corinne's operation, planning to go back when I could leave Corinne so that we could continue sailing, but this will now not be in time to get to Lymington by September 3rd.
I've been in touch with Lymington Harbour commissioners about booking the Dan Bran pontoon, and they've agreed that we can have eight boats. However, if we book more than five, they want a deposit of £10 per boat, and I think it's too risky to pay £80 deposit. What I did last year was to book 5 boats and then rely on there being extra space on the day. This was fine - but this year there are already two other rallies booked in on 3rd, so there may be more of a problem with extra spaces. I haven't made any arrangements about eating, but the Mayflower pub was really accommodating last year and it was good food, so it would be an obvious place to go back to.
I've provided the information above in case anyone else is able to take over this rally - but otherwise, I'm afraid it will have to be cancelled. The provisional booking will need to be confirmed or cancelled within the next ten days, so a decision needs to be made quite quickly. Please do get in touch if you could organise this.
Apologies again...
Best wishes
Gilliane
Delphine, Parker 275, no. 41