CRUISING - BLOW AWAY THOSE WINTER BLUES

Every month through the winter, scores of sailors sign up for the Little Ship Club's fast cruises. Dick Durham joins one and reports back

- Dick Durham

And then there was light, most welcome it was, too after a gruelling drive via several motorways into the pitch black New Forest. I drove on, motivated by the thought that somewhere ahead of time, berthed toward a Nicholson 35 awaited and a glass or two with the skipper and crew.

Thankfully the receptionist at the Master Builder’s House Hotel was a local lass and knew where Gin’s Farm was. Down through a winding lane, exposed to a fairy-tale tunnel from overhanging and leafless oaks, I at last saw the light of Gin’s Farm reflected in the cold, low cloud of the Beaulieu River.

Barrie Martin, commodore of the Little Ship Club and his crew Celia Greetham, batted not an eyelid between them at my late arrival for scampi and chips, perhaps because the quiz night organised by their hosts, the Royal Southampton Yacht Club, had not yet started.

At the end of the pontoon lay A Day at the Races, the lovely classic Nicholson 35 built in 1966 - the 14th of 28 boats all originally named Yeoman - for legendary ocean racer, businessman and former RYA president, the late Sir Owen Aisher’s wishes.

Barrie, her torch picked out the boat’s guard rail as he helped me aboard. Shortly afterwards, I collapsed under the duvet of a comfortable settee berth to point while Barrie, 75, a retired investment fund manager, huddled up with blankets of Battersea, his Madagascan terrier, and Celia, a physiotherapist, took the foc’sle.

A grey and windless dawn was made far less cheerless by proper coffee expertly brewed by Celia, whose masterful skills on the foredeck were matched only by her can, down below, of barista.