6 boats and 11 sailors took to the water yesterday for what would be my best sail of the year. The last day of British summer time was a truly delightful day and at times even felt warm in the sunlight. A decent breeze and some excellent sailing made for a memorable day. We set sail at about 11.15am and headed South through fleets of racing boats towards the usual lunch time spot on the beach near the golf course. Jo and I headed of first in order to clear some of the congestion on the slipway. Ann and Gill came charging along behind us. When we got out into the middle of the lake Jo and I went hove-to in order to let the others catch up and I desperately needed a cup of coffee as I hadn't had a break since getting up at 7am. It wasn't too long after finishing our drink that the others caught up and we got going again. After a couple of hours of beating into the Southerly wind we turned into the beach. Those of you who where there that day will never forget what you saw next.......Chris Yardley was already safely ashore when Jo and I headed for our selected patch of foreshore. The water level at Rutland is currently so low that stepping into the water really means stepping into the silt at the bottom of the lake. It was a little like quick sand. It took us ages to extract ourselves from the gloop. We crawled on our hands and knees through 100 yards of pure mud. I felt like actor Tim Robbins trying to escape from Shawshank Prison in the film of the same name....you know the scene. We where soon joined by Ann and Gill in their Anglo Marine Spirit, Dave and Miles of Dorchester sailing club in their Porter's Spirit and George Currell with Marian as crew in the Mark III. The other Dave in his Spirit had returned to Whitwell Creek to pick up Susie who was joining us for her first ever sail at 1pm.
After we had lunch Jo and I knew we had some work to do to retrieve our Gull and get sailing again. I decided to send Jo with Chris Y to keep "aurora" as light as possible so that I could extract her from the weed and mud. I made it back to the boat on my hands and knees, set the jib to pull me away from the shore and enlisted the help of an oar used as a pole to push me off. Sailing without a crew in a boat full to the gunnels of mud meant I had to work my passage. I settled into the pattern of - lookout for other boats, scoop clean water into the boat, clean off mud, open bailers to release muddy water, lose sponge overboard, and practice man overboard drill to retrieve sponge. I repeated this procedure about 4 times until I decided to just enjoy the sail as I could no longer see the sponge when it went overboard as the wind and waves were building as the forecast said they would. In fact the conditions where now perfect for some fast downwind sailing. I had noticed that Chris and Jo had headed up to the shelter of the sailing club to avoid gybing in the middle of a fleet of racing keelboats. George and Marian had opted for a fast and direct sail home. Ann and Gill had landed by Normanton church to reef their mainsail whilst I had turned into an Xtreme sports junky, desperately trying to get "aurora" to plane. When she did start planning she didn't want to stop. I sailed her right past Dave and Miles who had just executed a superb and speedy recovery from a total inversion capsize, passed the creek and on along the northern arm of the reservoir. At one point two gents in a Javelin where trying to catch-up with the Gull. When eventually they did, they enquired as to what boat I was sailing. "A Gull" came my response. "A what?" they asked again. "A Gull, you know, the first RYA recognised dinghy class" I informed them. They looked confused or shocked, I'm not sure which. The truth is that the Gull was planning at quite some speed. Even I was finding it hard to believe. Fancy not knowing what a Gull is though.......honestly.
We all landed shortly after crossing through a fleet of racing Contenders. It was a little bit like crossing the M25 on a space hopper! Safely ashore and packed away we were all invited back to Dave's house for tea followed by a very enjoyable evening meal at his local.
An excellent day, great company, great sailing, wallows in mud, planning in a Gull, good food. What more could we want?
The dark days of winter will soon be upon us but don't worry, we have already discussed some exiting new sailing locations for 2012. Do join us, I guarantee you will be hooked!
After we had lunch Jo and I knew we had some work to do to retrieve our Gull and get sailing again. I decided to send Jo with Chris Y to keep "aurora" as light as possible so that I could extract her from the weed and mud. I made it back to the boat on my hands and knees, set the jib to pull me away from the shore and enlisted the help of an oar used as a pole to push me off. Sailing without a crew in a boat full to the gunnels of mud meant I had to work my passage. I settled into the pattern of - lookout for other boats, scoop clean water into the boat, clean off mud, open bailers to release muddy water, lose sponge overboard, and practice man overboard drill to retrieve sponge. I repeated this procedure about 4 times until I decided to just enjoy the sail as I could no longer see the sponge when it went overboard as the wind and waves were building as the forecast said they would. In fact the conditions where now perfect for some fast downwind sailing. I had noticed that Chris and Jo had headed up to the shelter of the sailing club to avoid gybing in the middle of a fleet of racing keelboats. George and Marian had opted for a fast and direct sail home. Ann and Gill had landed by Normanton church to reef their mainsail whilst I had turned into an Xtreme sports junky, desperately trying to get "aurora" to plane. When she did start planning she didn't want to stop. I sailed her right past Dave and Miles who had just executed a superb and speedy recovery from a total inversion capsize, passed the creek and on along the northern arm of the reservoir. At one point two gents in a Javelin where trying to catch-up with the Gull. When eventually they did, they enquired as to what boat I was sailing. "A Gull" came my response. "A what?" they asked again. "A Gull, you know, the first RYA recognised dinghy class" I informed them. They looked confused or shocked, I'm not sure which. The truth is that the Gull was planning at quite some speed. Even I was finding it hard to believe. Fancy not knowing what a Gull is though.......honestly.
We all landed shortly after crossing through a fleet of racing Contenders. It was a little bit like crossing the M25 on a space hopper! Safely ashore and packed away we were all invited back to Dave's house for tea followed by a very enjoyable evening meal at his local.
An excellent day, great company, great sailing, wallows in mud, planning in a Gull, good food. What more could we want?
The dark days of winter will soon be upon us but don't worry, we have already discussed some exiting new sailing locations for 2012. Do join us, I guarantee you will be hooked!
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