The final fling of 8 previous members of the school sailing club was to sail on a 45 ft Beneteau at the invitation of Arthur Podesta from the Royal Malta Yacht Club, and his family.

The “motley crew” were:- Paula Goodale, Pam Hinton, Angela Salter, Keith & Tineke Holmes, Bernard Hoctor, Peter & Brian Fuller.  Arthur Podesta and his wife and 2 sons made us very welcome aboard “Elusive” when we arrived at Msida Creek at 1000am on our 'free' day, Monday 18th September.  The trip had been arranged through the Royal Malta Yacht Club, with whom we had raced while at school.

On leaving the berth we were immediately back in the 60s with all the ex sailors desperate to take over the boat. However sense prevailed and the “master” & his regulars piloted us past the old and new HQs of the RMYC, Manoel Island where Pam Hinton’s father was based, the RMYC Middle Seas Race Start line and around Tigne Point heading for Gozo. At this point we were allowed to touch the helm and the sails were hoisted. A glorious close reach up the coast followed with 15 to 20 kt. of wind over the boat and the log telling us we were making 8 kts. The sun was splitting the heavens as it was for the whole week, but the wind was superb and from just the right quarter. This lazy sailing was just what Paula and Angela had requested as their idea was simply to decorate the vessel while someone else did the “sailing bit”.

Each of the helmsmen/women, who got to “drive”, had almost to be prized off the wheel as the boat was lovely to handle and the sailing conditions so perfect. On passing the firing range at St Georges /Pembroke Barracks, we heard gunfire before we were well clear but were far enough off shore not to be in great danger.  The radar emplacement at Madelena was missing but the “Ear” still visible below Victoria Lines as we passed Salina Bay. We noticed the radar reflector has vanished off Ghalis rock, but again were far enough out not to worry. We shot past St Paul’s Bay so fast it was impossible for Paula to identify where she had lived previously. Arthur asked where we would like to stop for lunch and there was a consensus that the “Blue Lagoon “ on Comino was preferred. This was not to be for, when we arrived, the place was heaving with other craft and noisy tourists. The cheek of these people to mess up “Our” day by visiting the place we wished to anchor!! We pressed on to what we were told was Ramla Bay Gozo, where we stopped for an excellent lunch. The first criterion was to swim which we all did with great speed. Arthur produced a SCUBA kit and scrubbed the bottom of the boat while we just played in the water. It is the height of luxury to eat fresh melon, Tuna Pasta & salad on a beautiful vessel moored in deep aquamarine water off a beach, in the sunshine with a gentle breeze to cool the body, and a group of friends to chat to! We made the most of the experience. Some of the brave hearts swam the 200 yds or so to the shore and discovered Ramla Bay was the next one round. This explained why we were unable to identify the statue which features large in Ramla!

After an excellent break the anchor was weighed at the touch of a button and we headed for home. Again superb sailing conditions for the return trip & we moored up at around 1730 back in Msida Creek.  Our grateful thanks go to Arthur and his family for sharing their boat with us, giving us an excellent lunch and days sailing, never having met any of us previously.