For the second year running Jane Street and Alan Perry got together to organise the Tops’l Annual Dinner; and what a fabulous night it was! Their decision to return to the Langstone Hotel, Hayling Island proved popular and 90 people joined in the fun. The 35th annniverary of Tops’l could not go unheeded and to make it a special event a Masked Dinner was decided upon. In true Tops’l spirit, members responded enthusiastically; some with great imagination as you will see from the photos -
click for slide show
Many thanks to Jane & Alan for their brilliant organisation which set the tone for such a super evening. To Jane especially for her attention to detail in the planning and to Alan for his great skill as Master of Ceremonies. Also thanks to Bob Baylis, Chris Williams and Steve Leniston, the on the spot photographers. Thanks also to Alison Arwas for donating the beautiful flowers and to everyone who sent in the fabulous photos of sailing in 2014 to enable me to put together the background slide show. Looking forward to next year's Dinner. Andrea White
December Sailing ( Chris Williams)
I have been very fortunate to sail 2 successive weekends in early December. I have sailed in December for several years now. Amazingly, so far, each time the weather has been wonderful. Sometimes it was cold, but on each occasion the wind died just as the destination was reached.
This year, the first weekend involved a Club sail, organised by Mike Lord, which saw our 2 home based yachts heading off in light winds to Yarmouth. It is a tribute to our fine yachts that we left Portsmouth close together & arrived several hours later, just as close, using skill & judgement to make the most of the light wind & the good tide. The logs showed that each yacht had only travelled about 13 miles through the water to get all the way from leaving the pontoon at PS to the pontoon at Yarmouth! The harbour was pretty full; the HM described it as “like a quiet summer’s day”.
On the pontoon there were a few calisthenics going on. When Anthea said something about Turkish get up, I had thought it was something to do with fancy dress but it turns out to involve a wrestling move! It was pretty brave of Mike Lord to “have a go”. Fortunately, no-one was injured! After a meet up on board Jocalia, which involved the usual aperitifs plus the highlight of Mike L & Dave Burns having to juggle the hot chorizo I managed to pour into their laps, we marched off in an orderly crocodile to the Royal Solent Yacht Club for a meal. The yacht club was very hospitable, the food & surroundings very nice.
The next morning the wind had increased to moderate/strong, turning to the west & we sailed up to Wootton Creek to the pontoon. Jocalia elected to stop for brunch, Carina moved on to Portsmouth Harbour for lunch. In the end both yachts arrived at the lock together. It is surprising how often this happens without each crew making that arrangement.
The next weekend was organised by Steve Leniston & involved a trip to Newtown creek. Again both yachts performed well in the lightish winds, arriving in Newtown fairly close together. There was some pretty fancy ropework that enabled each yacht to secure to its own mooring buoy & then bring their respective stern quarters together to enjoy a convivial meal together on Carina. As said earlier, the wind died away as the sun went down.
Rupert supplied us with a magnificent curry – a lovely evening ensued, doing what members of Tops'l do best – good sailing followed by good conversation centred around a common love of the sea. It reminded me of my early sailing with Topsl when shore facilities were much less plentiful & we did indeed spend more of our time on various moorings or at anchor, cooking for ourselves. We didn’t know it was “wild” then, it was just what we did & thankfully, what we still enjoy doing!
Topsl can only work because we want it to; these weekends show us doing just that!
For the second year running Jane Street and Alan Perry got together to organise the Tops’l Annual Dinner; and what a fabulous night it was! Their decision to return to the Langstone Hotel, Hayling Island proved popular and 90 people joined in the fun. The 35th annniverary of Tops’l could not go unheeded and to make it a special event a Masked Dinner was decided upon. In true Tops’l spirit, members responded enthusiastically; some with great imagination as you will see from the photos - 
This year, the first weekend involved a Club sail, organised by Mike Lord, which saw our 2 home based yachts heading off in light winds to Yarmouth. It is a tribute to our fine yachts that we left Portsmouth close together & arrived several hours later, just as close, using skill & judgement to make the most of the light wind & the good tide. The logs showed that each yacht had only travelled about 13 miles through the water to get all the way from leaving the pontoon at PS to the pontoon at Yarmouth! The harbour was pretty full; the HM described it as “like a quiet summer’s day”. 
On the pontoon there were a few calisthenics going on. When Anthea said something about Turkish get up, I had thought it was something to do with fancy dress but it turns out to involve a wrestling move! It was pretty brave of Mike Lord to “have a go”. Fortunately, no-one was injured! After a meet up on board Jocalia, which involved the usual aperitifs plus the highlight of Mike L & Dave Burns having to juggle the hot chorizo I managed to pour into their laps, we marched off in an orderly crocodile to the Royal Solent Yacht Club for a meal. The yacht club was very hospitable, the food & surroundings very nice. 
The next weekend was organised by Steve Leniston & involved a trip to Newtown creek. Again both yachts performed well in the lightish winds, arriving in Newtown fairly close together. There was some pretty fancy ropework that enabled each yacht to secure to its own mooring buoy & then bring their respective stern quarters together to enjoy a convivial meal together on Carina. As said earlier, the wind died away as the sun went down. 
Rupert supplied us with a magnificent curry – a lovely evening ensued, doing what members of Tops'l do best – good sailing followed by good conversation centred around a common love of the sea. It reminded me of my early sailing with Topsl when shore facilities were much less plentiful & we did indeed spend more of our time on various moorings or at anchor, cooking for ourselves. We didn’t know it was “wild” then, it was just what we did & thankfully, what we still enjoy doing!