This years annual meeting was held in the historic harbour town of Flensburg on the German-Danish border. About 60 S&S Association members and their friends, and a dozen beautiful S&S boats, met for a weekend of sailing and socialising.

We began the weekend on Friday evening at the Werft Café, part of the Shipyard Museum (Museumswerft) on the west side of the harbour. Our hosts served up delicious homemade pizzas to order together with ample supplies of fizz!

Our boats were moored just along the shore and after the gathering, many retired aboard to continue catching up with old friends and making new ones into the small hours.

The crews and friends were entertained with fiddle music from Tigris skipper and international fiddle champion Maggie … and some Dutch singing in accompaniment.

On Saturday morning we gathered again at the harbour to collect our picnic lunch. Most people went aboard, with a few staying to do some sightseeing around the old town, and we sailed up the fjord in the hope of watching the Sterling Cup races – 12 metres, Dragons and Skerries.

Sadly the weather was not favourable and we didn’t manage to catch much of the racing, so most of us hunkered down in the shelter of the small Danish islands of Store Okseø and Lille Okseø for lunch.

After a quick change we joined the Sterling Cup crews who were celebrating in the main boat hall with a buffet supper, music and dancing. We had tables set up for the S&S contingent under the shadow of a beautiful Camper & Nicholson 12 metre - and the watchful eye of Olin Stephens – Robbe and Berking have a wonderful bust of our hero, and we gathered around to salute him.

After the usual welcome and toasts to Olin, and the handover of the Founders Cup from the 2024 team to the 2025 organisers, we sat down to an excellent meal.

Alongside the dinner there was an opportunity to visit the side halls which were filled with wonderful displays of work by local artists and craftspeople, including the silver cutlery and jewellery of our hosts, Robbe and Berking’s other business. The glass jellyfish were much admired alongside wooden artefacts, paintings, textiles and pottery.

After a glorious sunset and a good night’s sleep we were up bright and early the next morning, convening upstairs at the yard for the formal Association AGM, amply supplied with coffee and cakes to keep us going.

We rattled through the agenda under the efficient eye of our Chairman and were very pleased to be able to welcome new member Oliver Brügmann (owner of Taro) as our new Social Media Secretary. It was lovely to see Taro (previously Jonathan) and her past owner Majo Hendricks at the meeting. The meeting closed with thanks to the organisers Kerstin, Erika and Barbara,

After the meeting the group had a chance to wander around the Robbe and Berking library next door – a treasure trove of books on all things maritime and displaying many beautiful half hulls and full models of classic yachts.