SKYLARK, skippered by John with Geff as crew, joined the ISW rally based from Largs, in Scotland.
Hence this post will for the moment only a short synopsis to hopefuly ensure your attendance.
SKYLARK was towed over 500 miles on July 19th to Largs in Scotland to join another 30+ Shrimpers for the rally,.some had already been in the vicinity sailing for a few weeks before. We arrived late Sunday night where we stayed at a local B&B and arranged for SKYLARK to be hoisted into the Marina the following morning
SKYLARK was then taken out for a shakedown trip for the rest of the day to Little Cumbrae to check all the re-masting and rigging etc had been performed correctly. In the evening there was a group meal at NARDINI’s OF LARGS, Scotland’s most famous cafe, restaurant & ice cream parlour re-opened in December of 2008 following a multi million pound refurbishment that has seen the landmark Art Deco building restored to its past glory
SKYLARK flying SOCA Flag.
The next day, Tuesday, was the first official day of the rally and consisted of sailing Sailing around Little and Great Cumbrae.
On Wednesday the fleet set out sailing across the Firth of Clyde, passing PS Waverley on the way. whilst continuing onto the marina at Port Bannatyne on the Island of Bute, just north of Rothesay, where a few of the Shrimpers choose to berth for the night. The group had an evening meal at the Victoria Hotel in Rothesay.
Lunch in Kyles of Bute
On Thursday the majority of the fleet then set sail anti-clockwise in light winds around the Isle of Bute, through the Kyles of Bute, with amazing scenery all the way to Tarbet on the Kintyre Peninsular.
SKYLARK set out early Friday morning, into a reasonably strong headwind, which meant we motored all the way to south of the Isle of Bute, where we decided to seek the shelter by retracing our steps through the Kyles of Bute, Sailing north up the Kyles we were managing 6 to 7 knots on jib alone. We completed the 30 Nm trip in the early afternoon.
Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute
For the next few days sailing was impossible so we resorted to land based activities. On the first day taking the ferry as a foot passenger from Wemyss bay to Rothesay to take a bus to Mount Stuart House, A 19th-century mansion with extravagant interiors and expansive landscaped and wild gardens.
Engine Room of PS Waverley
The next day we decided to have a trip on the PS Waverly around the Isle of Bute. However the weather was too bad for the paddle steamer as well, we had decided to catch Waverly at Largs, but it was impossible for her to berth there so we had a mad rush to Greenock to catch it there, arriving with a few minutes to spare. 
The paddle steamer struggled to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, where some of the passengers disembarked to visit the town, we continued to the Kyles of Bute but had to turn back before we reached the end due the weather. The return trip then returned to Rothesay to pick up passengers and then onto to Greenock where she berthed with difficulty due to the offshore wind.
The weather was only beginning to improve so we joined a few of the others and decided to start the journey home the next day.
More details, with lots more photos, were presented at the September meeting.
The May SOCA meeting was a retro style presentation given by Stewart Warren, using 20th Century slides (taken at the time) and a borrowed slide projector, about his 1994 ocean passage from Cape St Vincent, the south-western-most point of Portugal and of mainland Europe to Porto Santo, Madeira and Tenerife. 
The Marina had 140 berths on floating pontoons. 11km long and 6km wide, Porto Santo has a wonderful 9km long natural sandy beach. Promoted as the Golden Island to the many tourists from Portugal and europe. We took a walk to town to hop at the market and also visited a “pension house“. We enjoyed a few glasses of wine in the elderly woman’s front room, dark and dingy but cheaper than a bar.
conditions were perfect for that activity, no wind. Once completed it was time for a nice evening meal at the adjacent Tapas restaurant.
