Plans Summermeeting & Rally to Oste
July 2013

To all,

The board of Alcyone Circle likes to organize crazy things (we heard at least).  Anyhow, going to St. Petersburg or to the Golfe of Morbihan in France was a bridge to far for lot of members. So, we did our best for a sailingtrip that must be possible for everyone: just hear out. During the last Summermeeting and the excellent Captainsdinner in Hotel de Brabander at Hylpen in June 2012, Klaus and Elgin Gerdts confirmed the board to be very willing to organize an amazing Rally to the German Wadden, somewhere ending in the Hohe Weg. Joost and I think this is a great and not a crazy idea, so let’s do it!

Normality when weather and wind are fine, it takes about a week or some more to get there. After that everyone is free to go: to stay in that area, to go back to Holland or take that change for sailing to Denmark. So, our goal behind is having a great vacation with a lot of fun and space for all of us.

The plan is to combine this with the Summermeeting at Saturday July 6th 2013 at Lauwersoog and set off sundaymorning to Greetsiel or Borkum with a beautiful fleet of Gunningyachts.

Hereby (on page 3) the letter of Klaus and Elgin with more information about this great experience.

You have to know that Klaus did this before in 1986. A lot of old members still have great memories about this fantastic Rally, that was perfect organized!

It is very important to know in a short time you like the idea and will join in an undertaking the  Rally to Oste. The minimum is 7 Gunningyachts to organize such a great event.
Klaus and Elgin with their ‘Harmonie’ will be our Sea-captain of the fleet. Everyone is going ‘buitengaats’ on their one risk, but the fleet will give you a lot of comfort and help to make this beautiful trip, perhaps your maidentrip in that direction.

Looking forward to your reply,

Kindly regards, met vriendelijke vaargroet,
Arjen van Boekel & Joost van ’t Hull,
board/bestuur Alcyone Circle

Dear Alcyone Circle friends,

the veterans amongst you may remember the Summer Reunie of 1986 at Lauwersoog and the subsequent flotilla sailing to Neuhaus on the Oste River. The attached picture of the fleet may revive some great memories of that time.

Elgin and myself should be more than happy to organize a “remake” of that remarkable trip and welcome the Bestuur’s idea of having this as an option for everyone interested following the proposed Summer Reunie at Lauwersoog from July 5th – July 7th.

We plan to be present at the Reunie with our HARMONIE and feel enthusiastic about the prospect of sailing with many other Gunning yachts towards our home waters. We have sailed the sheltered and well-marked Wadden routes between the Netherlands and Denmark since 1976 and feel quite confident to help with experience and advice to encourage “novices” and saltbacks alike to join the fleet.

We plan to visit places for conaisseurs off the usual track – Juist, Baltrum, Wangerooge, Carolinensiel, Neuwerk- to add new experiences also for the seasoned skipper. The motto would be “No Risk Much Fun”. The journey might take anything from a week to ten days. To make sure everyone gets home even with stronger westerly winds, there is the Küstenkanal from Wilhelmshaven to Emden, and from there of course the canals from Delfzijl.

From our endpoint at Cuxhaven / Neuwerk, it is only a day’s sail to the North Frisian Islands, to Brunsbüttel and the Kiel Canal, or to Helgoland.

To find out whether we can infect you with our enthusiasm, please let us know whether this idea might appeal to you. We have set up a web-based opinion poll. Please enter the following link in your internet browser and be so kind to let us know how you feel about the project.

Looking forward to meeting you at Lauwersoog, and later on the Wadden

Klaus-Gerrit and Elgin-Solveigh Gerdts

Alcyone Circle Rally 1986 – Gathering of the fleet SE of Borkum island