Glasson Summer Holiday August 2010

This year it got towards the end of August before we got together with Trudie Jaja, Jo, Ethan & Jordan.

Suzie and I arrived on Tuesday 24th August.  We'd taken 'stuff' up over the previous week so we were almost organised.  It wasn't a very nice day.

Trudie, Jaja, Jo, Ethan and Jordan arrived on Wednesday morning in time to go for a sail. I'd planned to get them in a boat each and take the rescue boat out ot look after them but alas the last person or persons who used the boat had left the radio on and the battery switched on so the engine was dead!  We compromised with Ethan with me in the GP14, kindly loaned by Ian and Barbara Sharples.

Jaja and Jordan setting off- photo by Trudie

Ethan - photo by Trudie

All of us - photo by Trudie

We were on the water for about eighty minutes, each of the lads had about forty minutes on the helm.

Suzie and I were sleeping on Suzi but the others were in tents pitched away from the boats and clubhouse.

The three boys on the left - Jo in the middle - Trudie and on Thursday Lloyd on the right

Sometimes the boys played Monopoly in the clubhouse

I considered that it was too windy on Thursday so we didn't sail but spent some time catching crabs

and playing in the mud on the shore when the tide had gone out.

Thursday evening Lloyd turned up and we all went to the Mill Inn for our special meal, all the other meals having been or prepared by Trudie and Jo.

Ordering the meal

savouring the the dessert

It was dark before we set off back to camp but we walked along the canal passing this family of swans. There are over a hundred swans around Glasson.

It was still too windy to send the boys out on their own on Friday so we all went out in the GP14 for an hour or so.

Here I'm struggling to get the rudder down.  We failed so had to sail to the side and remove the rudder set off again and when we got into deep water fix the rudder in position - not easy but I used Trudie's 'secret' to eventually get it into place.  We enjoyed the sail, one of the highlights for the boys was a flock of lapwings chasing a cormorant - Battle of Britain celebration!

We all went home late on Friday night but I, Michael, came back on Saturday morning to sail in the annual regatta

August 28th to 30th  - Glasson sailing Club Regatta.  I sailed with Stephen Tomkinson in his Anderson 22, Misty.

We're on the left. Jetwind, the overall winner, is the two masted ketch. - photo John Wood

we're on the right - photo Ann Johnson

Me helming - photo John Wood

These photos were taken on the Saturday, the first day. I helmed on both days because my knee was/is painful.  Stephen was so keen to race his boat that he did all the other work.

The conditions were quite hairy on both days.  22 knots of wind recorded on the Saturday - Force 6, Sunday was even wilder, Force 7.

We came second out of nine boats on Saturday and third on Sunday. We had the same points as the overall winner, Jetwind, but we came second as Jetwind had performed better than us in the second race.

Jetwind came 1st because last race counts twice in event of a tie, similarly why My Cloud came 3rd.