RYC River Cruise:
A "first-timer's" perspective!

RYC Cruise 2009
Thanks.

Bill O'Neil said to me many, many years ago that I should buy a sailboat and get out on the river – join a club and go on the cruise.  I kind of chuckled under my breath and said that would be great and then forgot about it. 

However Bill didn't. As I used to see him from time to time he would say ‘Time to get that boat Rob. We have a lot of fun you know.'

When I retired, Gordon and Jean Foster invited us on their boat (C&C 25 I think) and then they bought a bigger boat and I crewed for them for a few years.

Well, eventually I did get a boat (Tanzer 22) and did once go upriver to Gagetown for a couple of nights. The sailing was great and the scenery fantastic, but we weren't ‘cruisers'.

After four or five years of day sailing and some racing we had the opportunity to buy a bigger boat; one which we could sleep in, stand up in and pee in in comfort, relative comfort. After day sailing and one overnight to Scout's we decided to get the boat into shape to go on the yearly RYC Cruise in 2009.

This is how Jean and Gord put it:

"Rob wanted to do it, but Sue was reluctant. She just wasn't sure. Would it be uncomfortable? Too long? Would she feel queasy? But Rob pressed, and Sue relented. She went all the way, and would be willing to do it again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I would add that once the decision was made, Sue was very pro the whole thing and joined in our preparations wholeheartedly. By early May she had already prepared, cooked and frozen food, and made lists of what was needed. Who knew that cruising requires so much effort and time?  At least for the first time.

So on July 11th we set off and spent, to our real surprise the next 7 nights on the river system. It was everything Bill had said it would be – great fun, good sailing, a real sense of community, some drama and a chance to get to know other members better. So many of these people gave us a helping hand in so many ways without question, shrugging off thanks with a "No problem" or "Anytime".

This note is to all of you who gladly gave us your unconditional help whenever it was needed in so many ways. We could fill a book with them all! I said to someone at the time that I had said "thank you" so many times that I didn't need to practice it any more and I was beginning to get a little embarrassed, but one really can't say it enough.

To those of you who helped us fix batteries, offered us chargers, enquired about our problems with concern, waited to shepherd us through a channel, allowed us to raft up in howling wind, directed our anchoring, gave us advice on various aspects of cruising, organized the cruise, BBQ, fireworks, entertainment, shared their boat for drinks and chats, arranged and participated in pirate attacks, shared food and drink, towing us in the rowboat, and generally sharing your time and stories with us, this is our way of showing you that it was all hugely appreciated. Thank you one more time.

Sue tells me that I am under strict orders to make sure we have an inflatable next year so that she can get right into the pirate attack mix and that she will be perfecting her method of "just throwing it back" when drinking tequila!!!

All the best,
Rob and Sue