The Ladies Afloat section of the Royal Dart Yacht Club took a flotilla of boats upriver to Totnes on Thursday, July 9, as an exercise in navigation on the river Dart.

Prepared for clouds and a few showers, the sun shone and the flotilla of two cruisers, three motor boats and three vision dinghies made it as far as Dun­cannon where, with virtually no wind, the visions were reluctantly abandoned, but not before one of them had made a valiant effort to continue with the aid of a paddle and a lot of determination.

The rest of the flotilla continued successfully up to Totnes on the rising tide and all agreed it had been a valuable experience in navigating shallow waters. On returning to Dun­cannon, all eight boats rafted up for picnic in the sunshine to enjoy the now famous range of home made goodies prepared by Ladies Afloat members.

The wind livened up in the afternoon and the sailing boats took full advantage of the ebb tide and favourable wind to sail all the way back downriver to the club.

All in all an excellent and informative day out on the beautiful river.