Crews: Colin Bell Mirror Gadabout Frank & Margaret Deardon GP14 Kyle Colin & Jayne Firth Cruz Jenya Phillip Hall Day visitor Sunday Bernard Hannan, Richard Price, Eric Scholes Skipper 17 Les & Molly Higgins Tideway Gemini Mike & Margaret Jones Boatless but willing on Saturday Brian McClellan Shipmate Senior Jezelle Kevin & Jenny Leahy 14ft Lynx Morning Star Brian Swindlehurst Cornish Cobble Avocet

Friday: Fine day but time spent travelling, rigging, launching and organising. Morning Star, Jenya (sporting new very smart tent), Avocet and Jezelle spent night moored up at the jetty.

Saturday: Another fine day but with a strong N/NE wind gusting. Jezelle off first with a fine run down the lake under partly furled genoa only but making 4.9 mph according to the GPS. Once past Peel Island turned into Horseshoe Bay where all was calm and warm. A can of ale, lunch basking in the sun, a little kip, a walk, but where was everybody else. In fact somehow I had missed Les & Molly who were somewhere about in Gemini. Then Bernard, Richard and Eric arrived in the Skipper 17. When we finally set off again we were both deep reefed as outside the protection of the bay conditions were still lively. A very pleasant sail north back to the boating centre passing Colin in Gadabout enroute. The rest of the fleet had remained in the north part of the lake enjoying some exciting sailing. Fourteen of us gathered in The Crown for a convivial meal in the evening. The skipper joined the rest of the fleet at the jetty for the night.

Sunday: Another cold night and at dawn all the boats were covered in frost. Not a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind. Jezelle away reasonably early again under engine (a very quiet Suzuki and with no blue haze behind) gently up to the north of the lake then all the way down to the south end and back again, the lake like glass and the surrounding hills crystal clear, very few boats on the water until back at the north end again where Jezelle met up with the rest of the fleet.

It was great to see Brian Swindlehurst back with us again (complete with little canine crew) and the perfect weekend for shaking down ready for the season. The wind picked up in the afternoon giving Jenya's crew the opportunity to practice cooking whilst hove to (sounds tricky to me).

Altogether a fine congenial weekend and with three small cruisers present this time. Are we getting soft or what? Still as Terry Hughes said in the journal last year, it’s not the boat that really matters, it’s the small boat state of mind. Brian McClellan

Derwentwater — 19th-21st April 2002

Attending:

Dick Morris, Eric Scholes, Percy Jackson Glen 14 Gem Ian Page & Paul Harrison Suffolk Beach Punt Peregrine Mike & Margaret Jones Shipmate Senior Dabchick John Hughes Lark Come What May Frank & Margaret Dearden GP14 Kyle Les & Molly Higgins Tideway Gemini Colin Bell Harbour Launch Water Rat Brian & Kate McClellan occasional crew of Water Rat Malcolm & Janet Lawrence hopeful crew of Gem Colin & Jayne Firth Cruz Jenya Ken & Mary Brown Wanderer Swift (with Matthew & Patrick)

After a superb meet last September it was too much to hope for the same weather this time. However the good company, good food & good venue were certainly present.

Derwentwater Marina is an ideal inland DCA venue; a small field doubling as dinghy park and occasional camp site (with showers), small craft moorings along two sides, a couple of slips and excellent bar meals. Being at the northern edge of the lake it's usually easy to get home with the prevailing southerly winds.

A few members managed to launch and sail on Friday but most folk arrived on Saturday, which gave the best day’s sailing, albeit in strong winds. Many of the ‘fleet’ met on Rampsholme Island for lunch, then went their several ways; some found the delightful Myrtle Bay, where Gem remained overnight.

Jayne & I have now been on about a couple of dozen DCA meets. Each has had it’s own character — lovely sunny days on Coniston (and wild ones too), memorable trips to Helford, inquisitive seals at Holy Island and so on; every meet has its incidents but a CAPSIZE, though much debated in the pages of the Bulletin, has not occurred on any of our meets except on (or in) our own lake. Derwentwater is so calm, gentle and welcoming during fine weather that one forgets the ferocity it is capable of — when the wind swirls at the southern end and tears the water from the lake surface. On our first DCA Derwentwater meet we witnessed a DCA capsize, then this Saturday provided the second. So statistically (in our limited experience anyway) Derwentwater is the most likely place to get yourself immersed! No harm done on this occasion except a large chunk of the lake bed dug out by the masthead! Lesson: if you’re going to capsize do it in deep water. On the other hand capsizing close to shore has the advantage that one can swim ashore and review the situation, perhaps even using a mobile to get assistance from a DCA member driving locally, as happened on this occasion!

This does raise the issue of communications: when mobile phones didn’t exist they couldn’t be used, but if we have them we should perhaps make use of them. Most folk seem to keep them switched off (“I only use them if I want to make a call”) or leave them onshore. On several previous DCA meets we have made good use of mobile phones in non-emergency situations, and I would suggest that members could circulate their numbers to others on the meet and then keep their phones SWITCHED ON. You never know when you might be able to help, even by passing on a message. More on this theme elsewhere.

We had a gathering in the marina bar that evening, then Sunday dawned with uncalled for ferocity — strong onshore winds with the lake more white than grey. No matter, several of us foregathered in Colin Bell’s superb harbour launch, which he has lovingly restored over the last 3 years, and proved that it could easily hold seven DCA members with the tent erected!

Jayne & I left early and spent the rest of the afternoon tweaking Jenya in preparation for our Caledonian Canal trip, starting this weekend — hurrah!

Not the greatest Derwentwater meet in terms of sailing hours for some of us, but like all meets it had its memorable moments. Colin Firth