Published by the Open Canoe Sailing Group

Saturday At Bala (RoyB)

There's a windswept lake near Bala, renowned for fresh air and fun,
The OCSG folk met there, to show how real sailing is done.

"The wind should peak at one o'clock." Thus announced organiser RodL. One o'clock came. And went - still the wind, showers and foam-crusted waves blustered down the lake. We were piqued. Actually not everyone; the Intrepids, viz: Daves M, P and S (had my parents seen fit to call me Dave, would I have turned out to be intrepid?), GavinM, SteveR, Penny & PeterO and TonyB with his brother. The latter, having moved some distance downwind, found they couldn't beat back. Discretion being the better part of valour, they gave in to the wind, arrived at Bala Sailing Club and phoned Rod. He fetched Tony in his car to the campsite and all was sorted. Credit to all. Meanwhile, out in the tempest the rest were by now beating back to Llangower, as I observed from the delightful shoreline footpath. Penny & Peter have fitted double outriggers to their antipodean-style beauty and she breasted the swell with ease. Like DaveM in his more high-tech machine; as he flitted across the water it was not easy to make out his blue sail against the dark green trees, but usually a little ball of spray indicated his position. All, of course, had reefed, perhaps Steve not quite

enough as he lagged somewhat to the rear and seemed to occasionally spill wind from his sail. (No doubt he'll correct me if I'm wrong.) DaveS, without outriggers, in the latest 14.5 ft. Solway Dory craft, led the way, occasionally baling frantically when going about. At least he didn't walk on the water.

At 3.15 I decided (OCSG purists should look away at this point) to repair to my B&B, watch Rugby League on telly and have a snooze (you may re-direct your gaze now). Looking out of the window as I surfaced the world had changed - glorious sunshine, gentler wind. Back to the campsite, boat launched to join others on the water. We don't often sail in the evening, understandable but a pity. The wind was fresh, giving a satisfying pull on the sheet and light spray on the face. The southern end of Llyn Tegid offers a superb theatre for sailing, especially when the declining sun leans on the mountains over to the west, throwing shafts of light across the water. They illuminate the hills on the eastern shore and a ridge rising gradually to the summit of Aran Benlyn, its eastern cliffs just visible in the shadow. Bliss it was…

The weather didn't ruin our pleasure; in the end we had quite a ball.
There were no wrecks and nobody drownded; in fact, nothin' to laugh at at all.

Racing At Bala (KeithM)

After the boisterous breeze near gale of Saturday, Sunday morning at Bala was a very different affair with a pleasantly light breeze from exactly the opposite direction. As this was now from the northeast and the cloud cover total, rather than the sunny intervals of the day before, it felt rather cool. There

was a good number of people keen to have a race and Rod proposed a diamond-shaped course, all in sight of the launch area with a good variety of sailing required - a good long beat from the start including rounding a wing-mark off to the right near the shore, then a longish run and a reach back to the line. Three laps were mooted but the two agreed upon turned out about right with the race taking just over the hour.

Once Steve had placed the outer start mark and Rod had conducted the start procedures from on the water the racers got away from the congested start area, in spite of some difficulties hearing a new and experimental sound signal. Keith and Ann made a dismal start but kept Roy company for a while. The others had set off upwind in what became a virtual procession with few significant changes of place apart from Keith and Ann, who made up for their poor start with a steady surge up the fleet. DaveP neglected to actually cross the start line and in the heat of the moment passed outside the start mark so withdrew after the finish, once he had realised his error. Furthermore, and maybe as another lapse of concentration consequent to the rigorous sailing the previous day, Steve eventually realised, during post race discussions, that he had also not followed the course correctly by failing to include the wing mark during his second lap; so he also had to declare himself ineligible for a result. Ann and Keith managed to record rough times for the intermediate lap as detailed below whilst Roy decided part way through the race that he had had enough of being the foundation of the fleet and landed to sit and record the finish times; thanks Roy!

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