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Newsletter

The first of our two Club weekends- away is looming. Our annual weekend of sailing at Ullswater is a little later than in recent years. We will be there over the weekend 14th—15th July.Some of us go a little earlier (weather permitting!) and others just pop up for the day. The majority of us camp — though it isn’t compulsory. We stay at Ullswater Holiday Park and use their boat park and launch site, which is around a Lake District mile away from the site. We try and camp in the very top field, as a group, but it does depend how busy the site is.

Sailing is, of course, the main reason for the weekend but we also enjoy the Saturday evening BBQ where we all get together, cook our food and chat.

Last year Hugh entertained us with his rope trick. The Napiers were volunteered to escape and kept us entertained for several minutes.

Those of us sitting in the audience offered many handy hints, none of which were any use at all! Hugh eventually took pity on them (and us) and demonstrated the proper method — which I now cannot remember!

I understand that the excellent on-site chippy is no longer there. However a mobile chippy does visit.

Peter Craggs

Our annual trip to Ullswater is just a few weeks away

Angela Craggs

What’s been happening at YRISC?

IdeasLoch Awe articleWhat’s been happening at YRISC?UllswaterLevel 1 course

Come and join us at Ullswater!

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Following Phil’s, perhaps not entirely serious, invitation to write more stories about the Scottish Lochs we have sailed, I immediately felt compelled to do so. I have some very fond memories of dragging my old Topper on top of my even older Volvo to this remote Scottish stretch of water for two summers a few years ago. Loch Awe is the third largest freshwater loch in Scotland and also the longest, situated rather inconveniently to the northwest of Loch Lomond on a direct line towards Oban and the coast. The inconvenience consists of the fact that it lies embedded between reasonably sizes hills (probably not directly mountains). Its southern tip is fairly inaccessible due to a number of large sea lochs protruding into the coastline.

“…a lovely cottage which featured

its own little harbour…”

Thus, in order to get there by car, one has to navigate the narrow road up the west side of Loch Lomond and then carry on further north to join the A85 towards Oban. This leads right around the top of Loch Awe, where most of the life happens. But of course, we were headed halfway down the other side, resulting in another half-an-hour drive on a single track road through forests and up and down steep hills.

Remote

It’s a place of true beauty though. I think I have never sailed in a place this remote, and that includes the outer parts of the Stockholm archipelago in Sweden. We had rented a lovely cottage which featured its own little harbour including breakwater and slipway. During our stay,

The River Severn at Avon SC

During 2016 Peter Craggs trailed his Aero to various Open Meetings. This was the final event…

Would you know what to do…?

Mike Craggs is planning to run an RYA Small Craft First Aid Course on the 5th May 2018.

It will be held at the Club from 0900 — 16.30hrs. The cost will be £35 for club members and £60 for non-members, including a First Aid book and certificate.

The course will include hypothermia, CPR , bleeding, major illness and the use of a defibrillator.

This is a mainly hands-on course and will be based round water activities.

If interested please contact Mike at mike_craggs@hotmail.com

Mike will require a £10 deposit by 22nd April and full payment by 29th April. Please pay directly into the Club account and let Mike know when you have paid.

Jens KuhnSailing on Loch Awe

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we had this entirely to ourselves, and apart from the occasional fishing boat there were no other watercraft at all.

Of course, it being Scotland, the weather plays an important role in how enjoyable such an adventure can be. As Loch Awe is a narrow but long stretch of water, the wind tends to funnel up through it similar to the conditions on Ullswater, but on a slightly larger scale.

The winds can also be quite fierce at times, and with virtually no other watercraft around, care should be taken with monitoring the conditions and carrying the right safety equipment. As

far as I know, there is no dedicated lifeboat, and according to some articles I found, it’s also supposed to be a bit of a radio dead spot, so self reliance is key.

“…the weather was considerably

more Scottish…”

On the upside, there is some excellent sailing to be had. There is plenty of space and with most of the shoreline uninhabited, there are plenty of places to land and explore. The north of the Loch is a little wider and features a few islands, some of which are served by tour boats taking people to ruined

castles, but I never sailed that far up as it would have meant hours of beating back (I did ponder sending Tracy up with the Volvo to collect me, but felt that would have been cheating).

Glorious weather

During our first visit we had glorious warm weather and I got to sail almost every day, while Tracy and the girls were swimming and relaxing in the sun. On the second trip the weather was considerably more Scottish, which meant taking advantage of the sights that are within reasonable distance. Oban is basically just down the road from the top of the loch (after the half hour on the single track road that is) and it’s probably the nicest Scottish town I know. It has a ferry to the Isle of Mull, a nice castle to visit, but most importantly all the shops needed after a few days away from civilisation.

A little bit further is a really nice Sea Life Centre, well worth visiting for anyone who wants to know what they’ve done wrong in Scarborough (well mostly placed it where there are too many people I guess).

Of course, even though we never did that, if you’ve taken your own boat, there is no reason not to extend the adventure with some sailing on either Loch Lochy or the sea off Oban itself.

Commodore’s Corner

Cold water shock

Would you know what to do…?

Mike Craggs is planning to run an RYA Small Craft First Aid Course on the 5th May 2018.

It will be held at the Club from 0900 — 16.30hrs. The cost will be £35 for club members and £60 for non-members, including a First Aid book and certificate. The course will include hypothermia, CPR , bleeding, major illness and the use of a defibrillator. This is a mainly hands-on course and will be based round water activities.

If interested please contact Mike at mike_craggs@hotmail.com

Mike will require a £10 deposit by 22nd April and full payment by 29th April. Please pay directly into the Club account and let Mike know when you have paid.

Action on the river

A sunny Sunday morning in April saw seven dinghies out on the water (the Laser is out of shot) enjoying some exciting sailing in a rather chilly wind.

Map (courtesy of Google) showing the position of Loch Awe

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Dates for your diary

This year we were delighted to welcome a full complement of six new members to the RYA Level One course. Yvonne, Steve, Mark, Nick, Kevin and Rob all completed the course with flying colours and duly received their certificates at the obligatory cake-eating ceremony on the final Friday.

Thanks must go to all those who assisted the instructing team and helped to make the course both fun and interesting.

Step-up course

As we use the double-handed dinghies for most of our training, we have already taken our students into a significant area of the RYA Level 2 syllabus and if the students are able to gain more time on the water over the summer, I should like to offer a short ‘step-up’ course in the autumn for anyone wanting to gain a Level 2 certificate.

“…practising of a double-hander

capsize and recovery on the

water…”

One of the more exciting parts of that course will be the practising of a double-hander capsize and recovery on the water, and we could perhaps open this to the whole club just to make sure that everybody is up to the mark! Steve and Yvonne did in fact give us a demonstration on the first part during the course so I shall be looking to them to lead the session!

Do please keep a look out for our new members if you are down at the Club over the coming months. They are a great bunch and very keen to sail. If you have the chance to take someone afloat, do take the opportunity to team up.

Angela Craggs

York RI Sailing Club is a part of York RI, a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registration number 1165513. Registered office: 22 Queen Street, York YO24 1AD

Steve ParrySuccess on the Level One course

The Level One course, run by Steve Parry and his band of volunteers, has produced “a star team”

The Level One group practising their skills on the river

Editor’s Note

I have amended the article on the Grand Opening

so any errors are mine.

Apologies to Hugh - there is no room for a

Commodore’s Corner this time.

And further apologies to those peop

le who have

kindly submitted articles that have not yet been

published. Rest assured they will be published in a

future edition. More articles would be welcome!

Angela