On Saturday, May 15 Rye Harbour Sailing Club (RHSC) supported Hastings Canoe Club with a Rother river clean up. Starting at 11am in the pouring rain, it did luckily dry up later and turned into a very good day with plenty of sun. It was about 3pm by the time we finished.
The canoes made it all the way to the Strand in Rye, but gathered more rubbish when the tide came in and they could get to the tide line where most of the rubbish gathers, unfortunately.
The RHSC team of Andre and Claire Powell and Jem and Ali Short did a great job on the shore near the wharf, where lots of netting and ropes where pulled out of the mud, and Elsbeth Turnbull, Jonathan Dellar, and Fran and Eric Zon were on the Lankelma rib to gather the rubbish from the pickers and take the rubbish to a skip at the Lankelma yard.
A great effort by all, with not too much plastic, but mainly netting, ropes, some steel, and foam insulation, and nice to be able to have the club supporting this on our premises. Our reward were the seals popping up here and there – always a great sight. Hastings Canoe Club is thinking of doing another one in the autumn so we will keep you informed.
Dinghies race in river shelter
On Sunday the club had a dinghy race in the summer series. Due to the strong wind the race was held in the river, but it was still challenging enough. A wide variety of dinghies took part and it was great to see the spinnakers used.
Jeremy and Ali Short came first with Steve Eccles in second place and Martin Newman, crewed by John Roberts, in third place, a great result in his brand new Wayfarer.
Image Credits: Eric Zon .
Well done all, that’s a great effort!