Ullswater 2015

[Matthew P]

Hi Anthony,  glad you can come. And now we are 9 boars with room for 6 more.
I plan to arrive midday Friday and sail around the Patterdale end in the afternoon so maybe we will. Meet on the water.
The Glenridding Sailing Center staff are very helpful so launching should be easy.

Matthew
Br20 Gladys

[Matthew P]

Here are some summary notes for the Ullswater rally next weekend (12-14 June)

Currently I have a list of 12 boats, so there's room for three more late entries.

BR17   Emily – Anthony
BR17   Tripos - Mark
BR20   Turaco III - Graham
BR20   Carpe Diem – Simon
BR20   Shuna - Tom
BR20   Ristie - Tim
BR20    Gladys - Matthew
BR20e  Moirach - John
BR20e  Alice Amy - Reg
BR20e  Amy Eleanor – David (maybe)
BR20e  Gobhlan-G – Rory
BR23    Vagabond – Rob

Please let me know if you are on the list and are not coming or not on the list and would like to come.

Please register and pay fees on arrival at Glenridding Sailing Centre. See map attached for GSC location near Patterdale.

GSC fees are £20/day (Fri pm to Sun pm counts as 2 days), which includes launching and use of facilities. We are also invited to the annual GSC Ceilidh in the village hall at a cost of £25 pp and includes feasting, drinking (included in price!) and, for those with agile feet and energy to spare, dancing.

Glen Ridding Sailing Centre's require people to wear buoyancy aids on and around the water and boats have at least 3rd party insurance.

I shall be arriving about 5pm on Friday and camping at Gillside Farm.  Neither Gillside Farm on Side Farm accept prior booking, so I'll sleeping under a hedge if they turn out to be exceptionally busy.  Please make your own arrangements. Campsites and B&B can be found at http://www.ullswater.co.uk/camping.html#Watermillock. 

SAFETY

See the Ullswater Users Guide at www.daysoutinfo.co.uk/pdfs/Ullswater%20LUG_2.pdf with safety advice and a map showing the main things to avoid.

Also please read the Events - READ THIS FIRST post on this forum.

Note I'm not trained, qualified or insured to advise other people on risks for their sailing activities and:

-   I do not know participant's capabilities
-   I do not know how good their equipment is for the conditions
-   I am unwilling to look after other people's money

It is the boat skippers' responsibilities to ensure their boat, crew and behaviour are safe for the conditions on the day.

No rescue boat service is available so it is up to us to look after ourselves and each other.

My unqualified risk assessment is:

Man-eating crocodiles, fire-breathing dragons, fire-quenching hippos, tsunamis, complicated tides and fierce currents are rare on Ullswater. Also rare are super-tankers with crews relying on radar to see your little boat and big catamarans speeding out to service wind farms. 

On the other hand there are rather charming Edwardian lake cruisers (surprisingly fast), unstable dinghies with hydrofoils, lake swimmers, canoes, incompetents in small boats and me in Gladys - all best given a wide berth.   

Some Swallowboats have encountered centreboard-eating rocks but the areas they (mostly) lurk are shown on the map at www.daysoutinfo.co.uk/pdfs/Ullswater%20LUG_2.pdf and marked in the real world with red-buoys or spindly beacons.  In common with any mountain surrounded water the wind can be playful, so reef early or be ready to swim.  For extra sport there may be a few irate land-owners and Ullswater Sailing Club along some of the shore line – but again those areas are shown on the map. 

If anyone is aware of any other hazards please let everyone else know.

I look forward to meeting old friends and making new ones.

Matthew
BR20 Gladys

[David Hudson]

OBSTACLES TO WATCH OUT FOR

Apologies for teaching my Grannies to suck eggs!

For red buoy, read grubby red buoy.

1. The western shore, (opposite to sailing club) slopes gently into the lake and there are a number of old dry stone walls that extend underwater.
2. There are rocks in the centre of the Outward Bound bay and the northern end is quite shallow.
3. North of the Leeming Hotel next to the Oldchurch moorings, at about one third the way across the lake towards the sailing club, there is a long reef. There used to be a dan mark (now red buoy?) at the south end and a red buoy at the north end. This is now easily missed!!!
4. At the north end of the lake, by the most photographed boathouse in the west, the water shallows rapidly onto submerged rocks.

My great uncle used to live at Watermillock and I had hoped to make the event. Unfortunately aged parents preclude me from taking the whole weekend off but I will try and visit Glenridding on Sunday if possible.

Enjoy!

[Anthony Huggett]

Not having been to a SB rally before, is there a plan for Saturday?
Is there somewhere we can sail to and find a pub for lunch?

Anthony

[Matthew P]

Thanks David, very helpful.  I don't think Ullswater has significantly more malicious rocks than other lakes and with the benefit of the Ullswater Users Guide at www.daysoutinfo.co.uk/pdfs/Ullswater%20LUG_2.pdf
and your comments we should be able to avoid them.

Matthew
BR20 Gladys

[Matthew P]

Not having been to a SB rally before, is there a plan for Saturday?
Is there somewhere we can sail to and find a pub for lunch?

Anthony

Hi Anthony

What we do depends upon what people want and conditions on the day.

I presume most people will be on the water by 12.00 so how about the fleet setting off from near the Glenridding Sailing Centre at 12.00 and meeting for picnic lunch in the bay at Howton?  We can then return for tea and ice cream at St Patrick Boat's Landing.

Competitive types may not be able to help themselves and race.  How they organise that is up to them on the day.  The rest of us can enjoy "cruising in company".

Please see the map at www.daysoutinfo.co.uk/pdfs/Ullswater%20LUG_2.pdf  for location of GSC, Howtown and St Patrick's Boat Landing.

Matthew
BR20 Gladys

[Anthony Huggett]

Sounds good to me. Myf will especially like the idea of tea.

[Matthew P]

Hopefully the current depression stays south where it belongs and we enjoy slightly better weather in the Lake District. 

I am planning to arrive at GSC about 4pm today.  GSC closes at 5pm but I'll be camping in a small green tent with a dark blue V70 at Gillside Farm so you may find me there - or in a pub.  For those who don't know me I can be recognised as quite large and ugly but normally harmless.

My mobile phone is not working so please phone the Glenridding Sailing Center 017684 82541 if you have any concerns.

Matthew
BR20 Gladys

[markbatey]

Morning all,

Just been on to Glenridding Sailing Centre - they are expecting us to be leaving boats overnight this evening and Saturday. So if you arrive after they shut this evening at 5.30 the gate at the end of their lane will look locked, but should be actually open. If it's locked there's a key left on reception at the Glenridding Hotel.

We should be there by 7.30 ish and staying in the campervan (grey Vantage Sol) at Gillside, so maybe see you this evening, or tomorrow morning anyway.

Mark

[John Perry]

An emerging and devloping set of blog posts for a great weekend at Ullswater can be found on http://moireach.perryweb.me.uk/. Thanks Matthew for all you non-organising 

[Tom Newall]

Hi Matthew
Many thanks for arranging such a good event. Kate and I thoroughly enjoyed the sailing, the scenery and of course the company from all the other Swallow Boat sailors.
The team at the Activity centre could not have been more helpful and accommodating, and having a campsite a short walk away was great.
Many thanks again.
Tom and Kate
Shuna BR 20

[Graham W]

Thoroughly seconded!  The Glenridding Sailing Centre couldn't have been more welcoming - they even winched our boats on to our trailers for us at the end of the day, which is a first for me.

The non-organisation by Matthew was superb and as usual, most of us had to be content with watching Gladys's stern disappearing over the horizon, even when Andrew wasn't on the helm.  I'm convinced that witchcraft is involved...

I have posted a few pictures and two charts on Flickr https://flic.kr/s/aHskaGM35B.  Luckily I was at the back of the fleet most of the time, which meant that the forward-facing sterncam got some good shots of most of the other boats.

[John Perry]

Back home safe after an excellent weekend. Thank you all!

https://flic.kr/s/aHskejQvsV

...takes you to my (and Adele's) contribution of photos from the weekend

[markbatey]

Bit late to the party, but here's another blog post on the weekend, this time from Sue, under the pseudonym of Tammy Tour Guide (for complicated reasons, you don't want to know) with me as Tony.

https://tammytourguide.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/swallow-boats-rally-at-ullswater/

Thanks to all for a great time, especially Matthew, and everyone who made us feel very welcome.

See you again soon?

Mark & Sue

[Anthony Huggett]

Many thanks to everyone who has posted, and especially to Matthew for organising. We had a great time on our first SB rally, (actually only the 3rd time we have sailed Emily) and I hope this encourages others to join in. Sorry no photos from us - we have a waterproof camera but have mislaid the charger

We appreciated all the tips - I have just carried out the recommended "doorstop" mod to the jib-boom, and I'm working on the spinnaker fitments (based on Tripos' fit out, but with an experimental single downhaul/pole extension arrangement.