by Antony Sluce

The rally was well attended so that it is difficult to recall and record all who were there. The boats represented a good cross section of the membership of the club: 5 Drascombe Longboats/Luggers, 1 Tideway, 1 Tarpon, 2 clinker built wooden boats, and 1 Shetland Skiff. The oldest boat was Bunty, Ron Duncan’s beautiful mahogany clinker built half decker with laid decks and a cat rig. Everything was beautifully proportioned with miniature blocks and spars sized right down to the minimum with brass fittings everywhere. The next oldest was probably Joan Abrams’ Morag yawl Hronrad, and then Ian Bevans Tarpon, which is the first Tarpon to have been built.

On Saturday the wind was strong and blowing straight down the lake to Pooley Bridge. Launching at Waterside Farm looked unpleasant with the prospect of a beat down the lake or a lee shore at Pooley Bridge. Mike Clark had had difficulty getting out to his longboat at Pooley Bridge. So we decided to launch at Howtown where there was a lee. Peter Filshie and Andrew Gilbert launched their Luggers. The advantage of the yawl rig in increasing the weather window over which you can operate was demonstrated as we sailed round to Kailpott Bay. I stayed to cook ashore, Joan ran back to Old Church Bay and Peter and Andrew ran back to Waterside Farm. Later we joined Joan at Old Church Bay and had a disturbed night, having to move anchor once and with the cover flapping until I removed my latest improvement, the hoop.

On Sunday morning the wind had taken off and the racing fleets were out. Alan Kimberley rowed past in his Tideway on his way to Glenridding, having been at anchor on the N side of the lake all Saturday. Peter and Andrew went past beating down the lake, and Joan and I ran back to Waterside Farm to recover our boats as the rain started. Edwin Dewhirst was beating down the lake in his Seagull sloop which he is refitting.

Out of the four NW rallies this year, we have only had the reefs out at one. We are not like the ocean racing fraternity who can sail almost whatever the conditions. Attending a rally if you are predicting bad weather is a little pointless. To give it more point despite the weather, I am proposing to try to arrange an evening event/get together/party next year, probably at one of the lake’s sailing clubs. I have been reluctant to do this before because of the amount of support I was expecting. However, if everyone who was at Ullswater had been able to meet up on Saturday night, we would have had a respectable number. If the weather is bad and people do not want to launch their boats, they could just come for the evening.

I found it very enjoyable seeing other people’s boats, the way they perform in different conditions and the gear they have found useful. It was a bit of an exclusive boat show with only the boats you are interested in there. Out of the eleven boats there, 6 were yawls, 10 had drop keels or centre plates, 6 were fibreglass, 3 wood, 2 plywood. Tent cover materials were PVC nylon, green Willesden canvas, Lancashire twill and black polythene. I am sure this has some relevance for the ideal cruising dinghy.