During the week boards, bikes, boats, bivouacs and beer had been loaded into & onto cars and trailers.
Four couples set off on Friday afternoon; Simon & Adelle in their gas powered motorhome (Simon's flatulence does have a purpose after all!) trailing 2 Sprint15s, Nathan & Sara in little Cleo (the car worth nearly as much as the bikes on her roof!), Charles & Catherine with a Sprint15, Pico, RIB & assorted damage limitation paraphernalia (more of that later) and last, not least but definitely fastest Ian & Colette in the rather-nice-lends-while-yours-is-being-mended-jag (well you never know who you might meet at a yacht club!).
Somewhere about 9pm all had arrived & tents / awning set up started in earnest. Much hilarity ensued when Charles realised the spare tent poles & pegs on the 3rd shelf up in the garage weren't spare at all... and with Catherine not looking forward to 2 nights in the back of the car Casa Hustler opened it's awning zips to temporary residents. With canvas stretched tight it was time for liquid refreshment, plenty of it, and tales of, well, allsorts - mostly tall. There was so much excitement that a polite request had to be made around midnight by an adjoining camper for us to quieten down.
Saturday morning saw us tucking in to excellent full English breakfasts. Ian admitted that bugs had not devoured any significant portion of his body and with that bomb shell we got the boats rigged. Forecast was for F4/5 gusting 7 in the afternoon with plenty of rain showers and the forecast was pretty accurate. Nathan disappeared off down wind on his board & had to be towed back, Sara hitched a lift in Malcolm's Shadow & decided cats are the way forward (very quickly), The 'make do' shroud on The Meek Machine didn't make do & was replaced by Chandlery de Watson, Charles & Catherine had a fun, fast & pleasantly uneventful sail (though some excited squeals were reported from the pointy end of the boat) while Simon & Adelle disappeared off into the distance in Black Cat. We came ashore for lunch in the club & with the wind building Sara & Catherine decided to go for a cycle while Adelle bimbled & Colette showed expert Safetyboat crew skills. Learning to trapeze was one of Ian & Simon's aims for the weekend so in a boys' toys afternoon Charles helmed while each took a turn at crewing on the trapeze along with Nathan, loads of bruises & smiles, though not before Simon had attached Black Cat to some rocks, doing a fair bit of damage to skegs, rudders & a transom, oops. A good 28st+ hanging over the side of a Sprint15 means it's pretty windy and the 2 nose-dive-cartwheel capsizes emphasised the point (I REALLY can't remember the last time I capsized Catherine, honest!). Nice hot showers and a few beers led to a hearty, warming & good value dinner at the club followed by birthday cake & party poppers for Simon in his 50th birthday year (it's not actually until October but there's no harm in starting early!). We returned to Casa Hustler for a game of 'Who am I?' and 'Mr & Mrs'; failures were punished by Jager-bombs. It was still windy so sound wasn't travelling & we didn't get told off that night!
Sunday and more full English, followed by more sailing; Hustlers in the Pico, Meeks in the 15, Nathan in the Rib (well it is basically a 125 on water), Sara hitching a lift with Ian for a while & the 2Cs trying out a Jennaker to good effect, although the loss of the new GoPro (well Chinese copy!) was a bit disappointing. Charles had a quick blast in Malcolm's Shadow - wow, what a beast! Then it was time to pack up, say goodbye to sunny (NOT) Ullswater & trundle home tired but happy.
Would we go again? Definitely & we would like YOU to come too!
Fair winds, Charles et al
