A SAMM Day Out 16.06.23

Two of the SAMM Groups, Balaton and Shoestring, enjoyed a fun sail-meal-sail on June 23rd, organised by Balaton Group leader Julian Pering as part of the SAMM Social calendar.

Two Shoestring boats Uno and Cuatro and three Balaton boats started from their base at CAR, Los Narejos on the Mar Menor at 10:30 with the SAMM support boat, crewed by Martin and Norman, following along; all heading for the La Playa restaurant at Los Urrutias. Some wives and other members were to meet them there.

Two of the Balaton Groups Russian members we're sailing Sirocco with new Swedish member Nils. Vision was crewed by their German member Jurgen with Jez and guest Shelley, Ginetta by Julian with Colum and Laura.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/37c9db_2dbe261febe34e2fb2ed687fd2852e30/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

The five boats sailed through the gap between Pediguera and Baron islands on a south easterly breeze then turned West towards Los Urrutias. Well most did! For some reason Jez was convinced that Los Urrutias was further down the coast and instead of following the other four boats decided to sail on South. Once they realised the mistake they put away their sails and motored in order to catch up.

The Shoestring dinghies put into the beach adjacent to one of the new jetties while the Balaton boats anchored offshore due to the shallow water.

Everybody had an excellent menu del dia At La Playa restaurant with 22 people from SAMM attending. After lunch Julian accepted the “Parrot” (a prize for a Balaton member who messes up) from Sergey for the mistake of not putting Visions keel down at the start of the last race day. However, he was pleased to immediately pass this to Jurgen and Jez for heading in the wrong direction this morning.

Over lunch Colum and Laura asked if they could join the Balaton Group and have since done so.

The dinghies were able to get quickly away once the lunch was over and the Whaly gave the crews a taxi ride out to the Balaton boats. As requested by Martin, Julian helped push the Whaly off the jetty and, as a reward, was soaked to the skin by the prop wash when Martin deliberately revved the engine. Unfortunately no video of this ambush.

On the way back the boats had a lovely beam reach sail in a decent breeze. Sirocco decided to take a route to far to the east the crew not knowing they should steer for the blue building which shows where to head to get back to CAR. Jules phoned to get them back on track and they were not far behind, coming in fast on the good breeze.

Whaly Calendar is available

The Whaly calendar is up and running. It can be accessed from the Members Only Page. You have to be registered on the Whaly calendar to book a slot. If you want to be able to book the Whaly for a session, please contact the membership secretary at membership@sailingmarmenor.com

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Cruising Group Day Sail

On Good Friday April 7th, the boat Lottie, a Beneteau Ocianis 361, part of SAMM’s Cruising Group enjoyed one of the regular day sails they organise. Regular crew Terry and Bob were joined by John and Carol, Nick and Mam for a trip from their home port, Marina Salinas San Pedro, south along the coast in a steady 11 knot breeze but with a swell of over 1 meter.

All the guests were given time on the helm and encouraged to be actively engaged in sailing the boat, although the ladies weren't keen on heaving on ropes.

Their course went the 6 nautical miles down to Isla Grossa and through the narrow channel between that and Islote el Farallon so the two ladies could see the tunnel worn through the later by the action of the sea.

They eat their lunches while circumnavigating Isla Grossa during which time they saw the road bridge over the Channel at Thomas Maestre open to let boats in and out of the Mar Menor. After a couple of tacks to clear the end of the mole it was a straight run back to San Pedro to put the boat away and have a well earned beer.