Hickling Broad rally, 16-17 September

 

It was a great pleasure to return to this favourite corner of the Norfolk Broads and, once again, as a part of a Drascombe Rally.  Moreover, it presented a first opportunity to test out my theory that the Deben Lugger would go well on the Broads - and indeed, Daisy IV did…. The copious quantities of weed, by and large, slid under the hull/rudder as expected and the sail shape was sufficient to catch the wind over the reeds when navigating channels.  

This video captures a flavour of the spirit of the weekend:

On Saturday, I had company in the form of crew plus Kizzy, the Springer Spaniel.  On Sunday I was single handing with a single reefed main in a slightly stiffer breeze.

10.5nm

7.3nm

Finally, a fellow sailor put together this rather enjoyable summary of the weekend…!

Ullswater

 

This trip was a part of the Drascombe Association Ullswater rally.  We took the opportunity to travel up earlier which gave us time for more sailing and more walking.

Conditions were very placid and hot for the first four days.  Then, the weather broke on the Sunday and we made a mad dash for the shoreline and that was the sailing done.  

Here’s a video blog of the four sailing days…

The most exciting part of the sail was having crew in the form of Mrs M, first mate, and Kizzy, ship's dog!

The wind didn’t really get going throughout, so we were somewhat limited in terms of the sailing we could manage and it was helpful sometimes to have the outboard to power us back to base when required. - although this only happened twice.

One of the key benefits of a Drascombe rally is that people take pictures of boats; pleasingly, a number were taken of Daisy IV.

Thursday 7th, 4.6nm

Friday 8th, 4.7nm

Saturday 9th, 10.2nm

Sunday 10th, 1.8nm

Gloucester Ring Trip, 2nd September

I've done this trip once before, in Daisy II.  This year seemed a good opportunity for a reprise.  The video pretty much tells the story of the trip.  

Arrival at Lydney on Friday 1st.  Overnight in the car.  Launched first thing on Saturday morning.  Left sails and mast back at base since there's little sailing to be done.  Up the tidal River Severn at ridiculous speeds with the spring tide, along with various pieces of flotsam and jetsam.  Over the weir at Maisemore, into Gloucester docks.  Back down the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal at a more leisurely pace.  Supper at Sharpness - where the above photo was taken, looking from the canal back across the Severn to the 'other side'.  Then into Sharpness lock, where we were let out into the Severn at HW slack and back across in the dark to Lydney.  Boats out, trail back home to arrive at 0400.

All in all, a slightly mad but hugely enjoyable experience…

43.3 nm