Port Edgar 
Yacht Club
Port Edgar Yacht Club has a programme of Cruising Activities providing opportunities and encouragement for all yacht and dinghy owners, crew and newcomers to cruise within the Firth of Forth and beyond. The core activities are Saturday and Sunday cruises for both yachts and dinghies, and Thursday evening cruises for yachts.
A combined dinghy and yacht cruise is organised on a Saturday or Sunday
approximately
once
a month usually to one of the many local harbours. Destinations last
year included Dalgety Bay, Inchcolm, Limekilns and Blackness. Another highlight
in 2007 was the Treasure Hunt, followed by a barbeque. This year's programme
has regular Saturday and Sunday trips including our popular outing to Inchcolm
and cruises to several other delightful destinations. We take picnics and
barbeques, or visit the clubhouse of the local sailing club for refreshments.
The emphasis is on sociability, enjoyment and the opportunity to visit
new places and a few old favourites. We begin with a briefing in the clubhouse
to ensure everyone knows how to reach our destination. Extra crew can be
provided for short-handed skippers and spaces found for crews without boats.
Alternatively it is possible to hire dinghies from the Sailing School.
All cruises with dinghies are accompanied by a safety boat, so they
are ideal for beginners and youngsters.
In
addition to the combined cruises there are longer yacht cruises. The
main outing last year was the trip to Anstruther for their annual Cruising
Muster - a very sociable cruise! This year the Anstruther Cruising Muster
is in mid-August. Not to be forgotten is the very popular end of season cruise
to Granton - a great way to start the New Year!
Thursday evening cruising is now more popular than ever. These cruises occur every Thursday evening from May to September starting at 6 pm and are open to members and non-members. They offer an excellent opportunity for newcomers and novice crew to sail in the Firth of Forth in a relaxed environment, whatever their experience, and enable yacht owners and crew to get out regularly for an evening sail.
Port Edgar Yacht Club has some adventurous cruising skippers who
regularly travel to the West Coast of Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, and even
as far as Spitsbergen and the Baltic. For some, cruising is simply a means
of getting to the start of the North Sea race, be it Stavanger, Skudeneshavn
or Macduff. These adventurous yachties can share their experiences by entering
the annual Millennium Quaich Trophy for the Best Cruising Log, a competition
open to any member wishing to relate their voyage. Entries are published
on the PEYC website and the Millennium Quaich Trophy is presented at the
annual Dinner Dance.
Dates for the Cruising Programme are listed in the Sailing Calendar section of the Handbook on page 53. Additional events may be planned nearer the time and publicised via email, on the PEYC website and the Cruising Noticeboard in the clubhouse. All members and friends are welcome to join our cruises.
We are keen to encourage other cruising activities at the club - please contact me if you have any suggestions.
There is a now a cruising mailing list which can be accessed at this link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/peyc_cruisers
This was set up to coordinate the activities of the people who go cruising on Thursday evenings. We were wondering whether we could use this group to provide some more general networking for people who go cruising on the Forth. For example:
- Sharing your plans for the weekend when the forecast looks good and perhaps meeting up at some destination that suits the wind and tide.
- Finding a crewing space on a boat for someone who just wants a day on the water.
- Meeting new crew if you want to go sailing but are short handed
- Perhaps a longer cruise say to Lindisfarne in company with people from FCC
- And whatever
people with boats want to talk about.
Ian Cameron
PEYC Cruising Secretary