Published by the Open Canoe Sailing Group

Rutland Reviewed! (MarieO)

When I was at the OCSG meet in Rutland water my dad and me were on our way back from having an ice cream in the café when the mast step of the boat broke and the mast fell over, it felt as if the boat had split in two. We could have been on the water for hours if it wasn't for the rescue boat that came to tow us back to shore. I was so cold when we got back to shore so I had to get changed quickly. When I was nice and warm back in my tent I called my mum to tell her about what happened.

Here are Gossip's artists in residence at Rutland just before sailing off to the fisherman's café. They each reproduce Rutland in the following drawings.

Here is Pauline's photo of the broken thwart which caused Marie such discomfort. She got wet from the spray of boat which towed her home rather than the rigging failure itself.

Ullswater Canoe Expedition (SueB)
(with apologies to a Northumbrian folk song)

Blow the wind southerly, ever so gent-er-ley
Blow the wind south to the head of the lake.
Seventeen boats with tea shops in the offing,
Plied paddle to lunch stops, then onward for tea.

Eyes could not see it, wherever the camp stop be,
Till on the hillside before them it lay.
Bags were dragged heavily, tents put up cleverly,
All settled down beside glowing camp fire.

The night it was cold and the slope it was slippery,
Folk slid in their sleep, rolling into a heap.
But sore eyes were delighted when morning sun lighted
The beauty of mountains reflected in lake.

Blow the wind southerly, northerly, anyway,
Blow just a breath to sail boats on their way.
Paddles were lifted and laden craft drifted on,
Tea shops were visited, picnics were eaten,

'Til gentle breeze rose up to make glad the heart.
As all were borne happily, homewardly on.
Blew the wind northerly, westerly, northerly,
Blew the wind north and the fleet home for tea.

Lunch landing

Brief History Of Sail Area (SteveR)

Back in the 19th Century, many canoes carried ballast and a very large sail area. Dr Hayward, (commodore of the British Canoe Association in 1891) sailed a 15' by 30" canoe which had a 72 square feet ketch rig for cruising, and a 112 square foot ketch rig for racing. JohnB (2000) describes Hayward's canoe, and refers to this canoe having a centre plate. Although I am not certain, I suspect that the canoe's centre plate was made from iron, and would have weighed somewhere in the region of 60lb.

Uffa Fox famously said that weight was only a virtue in steam rollers, and in accordance with this, the canoes which he sailed in the 1930s had no ballast, although the sail area remained high, being in the region of 100 square feet. Many will point out that Uffa Fox was a racing man, whose powerful canoes were the direct antecedents of the modern IC 10. It should be remembered, however, that Fox was no slouch in the cruising department either, having made a remarkable crossing of the English Channel in one of his racing canoes.

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