Rutland - March 12th 2011

I woke up with a sore throat that I knew would develop into a stinking cold. But I was sure I would get the day's sailing out of the way first. So we headed up to Rutland and arrived at 9am. We were soon joined by Dave with his Gull Spirit and fellow Lightning sailor, Gillian Thompson who has recently acquired a Gull. Gillian arrived sans boat and was invited to sail with Dave. Chris Yardley also came along again with his Mirror as his Gull is still currently inaccessible. We launched from Whitwell in perfect sunshine and a strong breeze and sailed a windward coarse down to the southern shore of the lake for lunch. Jo, who had parked herself on my new GRP thwart (see below) reported that it was sturdy and every bit as comfortable as the old wooden one. The other modifications that I've done over the winter also worked well. The oars are now stowed under the foredeck, webbing pouches from the army surplus store hold water bottle, rowlocks and camera under the thwart and a large mesh bag keeps all the halyard ends tidy against the starboard bulkhead. We had a quick sail back and landed against the pontoon at about 2pm. Another successful sail. But my cold did kick-in hard the next day!