Stokes Bay is in the Solent, Hampshire, UK
I used to sail there in the Courage Pursuit Race. Last time I did it was a very long time ago. Sailing in a Hornet with Jez Stanley. There was a tremendous hail storm from which we hid by lowering the main and sheltering beneath it. The windward mark lost its mooring or sank or something so the race was pretty disastrous for many boats. It was more of a disaster for us because I lost the pin for the mainsail’s shackle. So we had to sail back to the club under jib alone.
I found it later – it hadn’t fallen down the centre board casing after all so we were able to return to PSC under full sail when the storm had passed by.
