Cruise to Middle Thames Yacht Club 2025

Cruise to Middle Thames Yacht Club 2025

Three boats and their crews joined the visit to Middle Thames Yacht Club over the weekend of 1st – 3rd September, namely Scotch Mist, Laird Tommy and Zephyr.
The three boats cruised in company down river to Middle Thames’s clubhouse, located behind Sunbury Lock, leaving PH at lunchtime and arriving at MTYC at teatime. The weather was excellent, a perfect September day.
The Vice Commodore now moors Laird Tommy at MTYC, and this visit served as his transfer trip.

Mooring at MTYC involved reversing 75 metres or so down a narrow aisle between the bank and moored boats on the outer pontoon. All Albany boats negotiated this in excellent fashion. Geoff, aboard Zephyr, was particularly pleased with himself as Zephyr is not the easiest craft to steer in reverse!
Geoff had booked the crews into the Weir pub for an evening meal. The food was very good and universally enjoyed. The evening finished aboard Scotch Mist for after dinner drinks and coffee and a Movie quiz presented by Sharon. It transpired that our combined knowledge of the movies was not exactly great, but the quiz was fun.
Saturday activities (once again in lovely weather) consisted of a trip by ferry across the river to the Walled Garden. Tony & Sharon had never visited this before, and were most impressed, not only with the beautiful garden itself, but also the Embroidery Exhibition which is a permanent feature (though the exhibits change every few weeks). An excellent lunch was then taken at the Flowerpot pub, seated outside in balmy sunshine, before a gentle stroll back to the ferry and the boats. Everyone appreciated a ‘free’ afternoon, mostly spent napping! The day finished with a BBQ cooked by the Commodore and VC, at which we were joined by several members of MTYC. Congratulations to the ladies for providing a real feast! After dinner drinks and coffee were taken aboard Scotch Mist.

Geraldine had organised a Sunday Brunch fry-up, which she anticipated would be straightforward. It would have been if we had, collectively, been able to turn the gas supply to the stove on! This defeated us, so the bacon and sausages were cooked in the air fryer, and Sharon took a large frying pan back to Scotch Mist to cook the eggs, managing to get them back to the table still hot. What a woman! As we cleared up afterwards, we found a plug socket and switch which controls the safety gas cut off had been used to plug in the air fryer, and this was hidden from view. We will know next time! The breakfast itself was superb (many thanks, Geraldine), and set us up for the gentle cruise back to PH. As we arrived back, a stiff breeze blew up making mooring an interesting experience! Scotch Mist has a new scratch in her gelcoat!