Wayfarer Gathering – Ullswater 2010

With a dream of what cruising in the Mediterranean or other tropical sea would be like, we completed the RYA basics course at NCSC only in May this year, and shortly after were given the opportunity to sail in a Wayfarer. Instantly we knew that the space and stability meant this was the dinghy for us.

We learned that the club had a couple of boats that we could hire to put in to practice and improve the skills acquired on the course; one of these was a Wayfarer named “Topsy” managed by Charles Ferrar. Charles soon became plagued by our requests to use “Topsy” on Tuesday evenings and at weekends between other events so that we became more familiar with handling this class of dinghy.

We put the word out that we were looking for a Wayfarer to buy and received much help and encouragement from other Wayfarer sailors too many to mention all but not least of which were Charles, Dave, Martin, Simon, Rachel and John. By now we are put on the radar for the Ullswater Gathering, and after some searching questions and a bit more research we signed up for 4 days with a little trepidation not really knowing what to expect.

The first day of the holiday arrives and after a rainy Friday night the morning dawns grey and drizzly over Nottinghamshire – thoughts turn to the Lake District at its best – but after 30 miles up the A1 the skies ahead look brighter. We cross the country along the A66 to see the hills of the Lake District looking resplendent in bright sunshine, what a view!

No problem finding Ullswater Yacht Club, our host for the week. Tent erected, we then set about rigging “Topsy” which we managed unaided apart from tape at the bottom of the stays, all thanks to Charles’ excellent briefing and demonstration during de-rigging. Simon then took us sailing on the lake on Saturday afternoon as a refresher and confidence builder, but it looks a little daunting compared to what we had been used to, and now we are one of the smallest boats around!

Sunday dawned beautifully with blue skies and fair-weather cumulus clouds. The task was set; to sail to Glenridding at the far end of Ullswater 7 miles away, land for lunch and sail back again. Doug and Martin for their sins were tasked with keeping an eye on us. So again with lots of help and encouragement, and reefed we set off, but hove-to after a few minutes to don waterproof over-trousers in order to prevent the crew becoming completely soaked from the spray while keeping the helm dry. We were really pleased that we had practiced this manoeuvre in the safety of NCSC along with reefing and un-reefing. We seemed to be holding our own position for a while as we were one of the first to set sail but one by one the experienced hands caught and over-took us. The hills do strange things to the wind, anything from masking the wind on the lee side of the hill, to changing its direction. This proved quite troublesome at times for our lack of experience; once when nearly becalmed we had to sail back down the lake to regain the wind and take a different course through a narrow part of the lake. Nevertheless we finally arrived at our destination and only needed help with the reverse parking. After lunch and some much appreciated guidance on how to start moving while simultaneously retrieving the anchor we sail for home flushed with confidence.

We were over half way home, relaxed, admiring the wonderful scenery with the sun still shining, the crew distracted looking for the camera, when suddenly BANG – the wind had changed, “Topsy” gibed and started taking in water, abuse was shouted at the crew who reacted but slowly – it seemed an age but the dinghy was levelled and water only reached the bottom of the floor boards. After several deep breaths calm was restored and with the self-bailer open the water soon drained. Back at base help was again ready and willing to help us and “Topsy” get ashore. Helm and crew both exhausted from the adventure were early to bed.

Monday rained much of the day, so a chance to explore some of the surrounding area, but in the evening we sailed with Simon for some more coaching and practice.

Tuesday was sunny but even more blustery than Sunday, so with two reefs and guidance we set sail for a new adventure. For some of the journey Simon and Rachel sailed very close to give verbal instruction and advice on how to improve our technique in order to make better progress in to wind. We eventually reached our target and back again.

There are some excellent musicians in the group that went to Ullswater who play many varied instruments and create a real sing-along evening – if you can stay up long enough!

We learned a lot during the four days (not least how little we really know) and grew in confidence. Our thanks go to everyone there who made us so welcome, and who were always willing and ready to help but not interfere, and provided constant encouragement.

For anyone looking for cruising experience and/or considering acquiring a Wayfarer we would recommend it and are looking forward to repeating the visit for a longer period next time.

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