A September weekend in Rutland
Friday saw Jenny and Roy arrive in their motor home to find out that Jenny and Gordon had beaten them to it in their camper van. By the time everything was sorted it was getting a bit late for sailing and the wind was dying so instead the four members sat chatting. More members were expected that evening and there was speculation on what time Martin and Simon would arrive. Martin turned up at about 2300hrs and quickly put up his pop-up tent, Simon never did make it because of issues with the road base for his Laser. Good job there were no bets on his arrival time… because we all would have lost! We hadn’t realized that David was also on the field in his tent until Saturday morning!
Next morning there was a gentle breeze. Martin rigged the Wayfarer, Jamie, Claire and Cora arrived for the day. Roy sorted the Laser 1 ready to take to the water. Jenny was first on the water in the Laser having only a brief sail before handing the boat over to Roy. Jamie and Gordon were second on the water in the Versa, followed by Martin with crew David and Jenny. It was a long push to get the boats down to the water’s edge. We knew the reservoir would be low but it was extremely low and if you weren’t on the slip you were mud walking.
The plan was to sail to Whitwell to meet a land party of Jenny K, Claire and Cora. The nice gentle steady breeze gave time to sail up to the dam and down all the way to the end of the northern arm. The return beat back to Whitwell was in a freshening breeze. Roy had
the satisfaction of doing it on one tack whilst the Wayfarer and Versa needed several. Landing at Whitwell was interesting. It shallowed off very quickly (ask Roy who watched from the shore seeing Jenny disappear up to her neck!) – you needed to ensure you did not get stuck in the soft mud.
The cafe gained some business and was very busy with a wedding party but after lunch and a rest it was decided it was time to get going again.
Gordon needed a gentle lift to get the Versa back into the water. In doing so Roy became well stuck in the soft mud, reminiscent of the Tidal Mill on the first Sunday of summer camp. With a bit of assistance from Jenny he managed to escape. With the breeze having freshened, both the Wayfarer and Versa reefed. It was a brisk sail to the sailing Club and all three boats decided to sail past camp a bit before turning around. Roy of course wanted to ensure he had sailed the full length of both arms of the reservoir.
The Versa and Wayfarer were packed up and it was time to say goodbye to Jenny and Gordon, Jamie, Claire and Cora along with Martin. Jamie and Claire were going to listen to Henry Inder in a local pub that evening. Jenny, Roy and David spent a happy evening socializing.
Sunday morning saw David pack up and leave. It was a shame the earlier forecasts had put the mockers on folk staying because the breeze was gentle and sun shining. The breeze filled in a bit during the day but was probably less than
the day before until early evening but there were a
couple of light showers. With the Laser already packed up, Jenny and Roy took the opportunity to cycle around the lake. We took our time but the leaflet said 2 hrs and it took us 3.75 with a couple of stops.
The numbers were small but the sailing was good. Thank you, Martin for making all the arrangements, providing us with warm dry weather and, as it turned out, good sailing breezes – in future let’s hope that we won’t be unnecessarily put off by the forecasts!
Jenny and Roy