This was our second annual joint social with the Yare Sailing Club and what a difference a year makes! In January 2017 it was snowing when we arrived at Reedham to have the entire refurbished Lord Nelson to ourselves; in 2018 it was unseasonably mild and whilst we did have the Wherry room downstairs in the Ribs of Beef to ourselves, that was mainly because there wasn't room to fit anyone else in!

The Ribs of Beef was chosen as it's a super pub on the Wensum, regularly used by the YSC and a summer cruise venue for EACC and it was about time we all ventured into Norwich city centre on a Saturday night to see what it was all about. We certainly saw it all - security guards, hen parties, drunken stumbling (not ours!) - and a curry to boot from the excellent Spice Lounge on Fye Bridge Street, who also demonstrated that it is possible to write legibly on the lids of the takeaway containers. I had worried about this, given that there were 19 main dishes, 14 sides and 5 different rices .... but no worries, and Spice Lounge actually telephoned the next day to check everything had been ok which is excellent service.

It was a good evening, and great to see everyone and talk about plans for the coming season. The venue was too small however, which precluded mingling and whilst EACC has always prided itself on getting an unfeasible number of boats into a very small mooring I think we did discover that at the end of the day physics usually wins.

Cally Smith