The weather had been bright, warm and sunny for ten days. Mike and I were up in the Lakes on Friday morning, sitting in the sun with not a breath of wind. In the afternoon we put 'Cotopaxi' 1391 on the water at the public slipway at Bowness and gave the outboard a rinse from Salcombe's salty water. There was enough wind to sail back and to greet the first arrivals for the cruise.

On Saturday there were 5 boats and a matching force 5 wind. We all set off to sail to Fell Foot at the extreme southern end of Windermere. After varying lengths of time four boats turned back, disappointed and wet as well as tired. John and Ann Eakins came in our car to Fell Foot where we found Mark and Dave [W1438] having hot soup in the National Trust cafe. They had kept the full rig up and had had two hours' hard sailing to get there. They did not take long to run back up the lake to Ferry Nab.

Our meal together on Saturday night was a lively do and enjoyed by all ten Wanderers. There are lots of places to eat and drink in Bowness but not all of them accept bookings, we went to The Postilion.  

Sunday morning's clouds were a little higher but scudding across the sky even faster than the previous morning. There were white horses on the lake, even in the shelter of Bowness bay. Nobody sailed. Sadly we all packed up our boats. Some went for a walk first, we went to see the Arts and Crafts house 'Blackwell' before setting off for home.

The slipway at Ferry Nab is easy to use with good jetties available; the lake wardens were helpful once they realised we were sailing rather than power boats; and there is enough space to store 5 Wanderers easily, more could be squeezed in in calm weather. Overall the weekend was a good 'recce' - another Windermere cruise is not ruled out, this time we just chose the wrong weekend!

Janet Brenton Sept. 16th 2004

Participating Boats:-
Mike & Janet Brenton W1391
John & Ann Eakins W988
David & Margaret Spensley W1161
Mark Evans & Dave Drewery W1438
Stephen Carey & John Manley W1319