During our visit to the scenic River Yealm, we were lucky enough to reconnect with Matt and Jean, fellow sailors that we first met in the Isles of Scilly. They invited us to meet for dinner and a drink at the local sailing club.
It turns out the sailing world is amazingly small – about halfway through dinner, we were joined by some friends of Matt and Jean’s that they hadn’t seen in 10 years or so. Russell and Emma had sailed out from their home base near Southampton together with their son Oli, and in typical sailorly fashion by the end of the evening had invited us to visit them at their home port.
Some folks might consider an off-the-cuff invitation like that just being polite, but we’re not shy. So, a couple of weeks later Madrone nuzzled up to the guest dock at Marchwood Yacht Club.
And Russell turned out to be the consumate host. Since MYC is entirely member-run in order to keep costs down, he was tending the bar on our first night at the dock. We had a great evening with Russell, Emma, Oli, and some other sailors from the club.
The following day, he picked us up in the morning and dropped us in nearby Hythe for the ferry across to Southampton. In the afternoon, he picked us up again with a full load of groceries and toured us around the New Forest before dropping us back at the boat.
Meeting friendly and welcoming people like Russell is part of what we enjoy so much about our cruising lifestyle.
