York Sailing Club

After a year of trying to sell my Byte – a lovely boat but hard on my ageing knees – I saw this year’s Ullswater weekend as an ideal marketing opportunity. I posted a “Try before you Buy” invitation on the club WhatsApp group.

Saturday morning I decided on a final outing for brunch at Granny’s in Pooley Bridge.

Along with two GPs it was a fairly relaxed run down to our usual landing spot which was strangely marked out with several large yellow inflatable buoys. Clearly some event but didn’t seem to be much happening so we sailed on through – except for Steve whose shiny yellow GP attracted a rib which instructed him to go round the outside. Too late for us as we breezed on through.

The wind began to pick up but Bailey, Sean and I found a little bay and pulled up on the shingle and tied our boats to some trees. As we turned to walk to the café we caught a glimpse of Steve and Anna exiting the lake at speed in the direction of the river.

Happily we all survived and enjoyed our brunch before going back to Steve’s boat that was tied to a rather expensive looking shrub in a private garden, just above the bridge. The river was high and fast and certainly not sailable so Steve, Anna and I hauled it upstream -sometimes up to our shoulder in fast flowing. but thankfully quite warm, water.

We arrived at the boat hire jetty that on their way down Steve had tried to enter, setting off the alarm. Steve was confident he could sail from there but I was reluctant to make my way alone downstream so elected to carry on around the jetty to find my boat. At that point we saw Bailey nose out of the bay, see the approaching squall, and retreat.

The water at the end of the jetty was about 8 foot deep so it involved a brief swim but I worked my way round to our bay. Looking up the lake visibility was near zero up at the marina so we decided to wait the squall out. After a while it seemed to dissipate and we saw Steve sail out of the river and head for home. Bailey and Sean followed. I needed to adjust some rigging but then set off aiming to get upwind of the ferry jetty. It was a struggle but I just made it and prepared to go about.

The wind had now risen significantly and as I went about something snagged my lifejacket and I couldn’t get across. In a second I was in the water with the Byte on its side. No rescue boat and the others out of sight and, presumably, dealing with their own challenges. It’s some
years since I did a self rescue but survival instinct kicked in and I swam around to find the dagger board. After a couple of tries I managed to get my full weight on the board and the boat slowly began to right itself. Thanks, I assume, to a boost of adrenalin I hauled myself in and got it sailing again.

I did a few tacks in what was now as strong a wind as I could handle but was not making much progress up the lake and the Marina seemed a long way away. I was, by now, pretty tired and a bit worried about hypothermia so decided to run for shelter. I found a sheltered bay just next to that little boat house as you come round from Pooley Bridge and parked it fully rigged and tied to a handy tree. I intended to return later that day or on Sunday once I had recuperated and the wind had gone down a bit.

Still soaking wet and compete with wetsuit and buoyancy aid I started walking up the road to Watermillock. Thumbing a lift in my state was hopeless so I ended up walking the lakeside footpath back to the Marina where I found I was not the only capsize. Steve, of course, had remained upright and dry and kindly offered to come down and sail my boat back. A true gentleman.

Sunday started calm but sunny but the wind came up and it was a perfect sailing day. I took the Byte out for a farewell run but remembered Saturday’s lesson that this was probably a boat for a younger person. I spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the shallows on paddleboards with the other children.

Anna then had a try of the Byte and decided to buy so the boat is going to a good home and altogether a happy ending to a rather more exciting weekend than I had anticipated!