Rutand

I have posted about Rutland before but I was back there yesterday in perfect conditions, sun and wind were plentiful and being a Friday there was only a few other boats on the water.  While getting the boat ready to tow home I met someone who used to own a Storm 15 who might meet up for a sail next time I'm there. The "Garmin Connect" link is for the tracklog for the day, I used a Garmin running GPS hence the less that nautical units and the calorie count, the gadget seems to think I'm either swimming or walking on water



Garmin Connect

Ullswater

I have not sailed or posted in a while, our last trip to Amble proved to be a bit of a disaster. One good sail followed by engine failure and a tow back into the marina. Since then the engine has been fully overhauled and has now proved to be trouble free. We have sailed on Windermere a few times but this time went for the quieter northern lakes. A bit of googling found a cottage with a jetty and Ullswater marina were able to store the trailer and seemed keen to use their tractor to launch Meg Ullswater is a good deal more peaceful than Windermere and there were only a handful of other boats about and of course the ferries which run up and down the lake. As with Windermere they are entirely predictable in their course and speed. There was never any shortage of wind although the surrounding mountains do make it do some strange things. The sailing was limited to a couple of hours at a time, the kids interest being the limiting factor. Sailing it seems is a bit dull to the Xbox generation. My son was looking interested in some skiff sailors who were playing a game that involved alternating 5 minutes of sailing with 5 minutes of swimming. Overall it was a cracking weeks holiday and some great sailing, this end of the lake district has much to offer, so much in fact that we have booked the cottage for October half term. Managing to find somewhere to stay that enables you to tie the boat up at the end of the garden makes it so much easier to get out for an hour or so in the evening. The outboard seems to be working perfectly and the week was entirely problem free which was just what I needed and so I'm keen to get sailing again soon. PS the cottage is http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/accommodation/p8122806 a BR20 was quite happy at the jetty but the water wasn't very deep and in a hot summer the water level falls. The lake bed next to the jetty was small shingle and if the water level is low the boat could be beached. The cottage was comfortable, some of the reviews are a bit negative but if your going to take a boat 2 kids and 2 dogs and don't want to worry to much its perfect. They do have a sort of slipway/ gravel ramp to the water but its very steep and i wouldn't weant to us for anything bigger that a Lazer