Rutland Civil Service Sailing Club - We Rutland Civil Service Sailing Club are pleased to say that we are now back on the water. Thanks to the hard work of Boat Husband John Cranwell Ward and his deputy Mike Threadgill along with volunteers Dave Grundy (Club Captain) and Eric Andrew who attended the club on its first day of re-opening after lock down. John reports; “We were amongst the first members to arrive at 0930 on March 29th, the first day of the long lockdown easing. A little apprehensive re the condition of the boats as haven’t been on the site since November 2020. We removed the winter covers from all three boats, Lift Off (one of our Squibs) had a couple of gal-lons of rainwater in her rear tank, otherwise both Squibs bone dry in their cockpits and bilges, the winter tarpaulins once again have done a really excellent job. The Soling however had several gallons Dave, Mike & Eric ready to test the Squibs of rainwater inside the front and centre tanks, but the cockpit floor was bone dry.The whale pump and hose on the centre tank was used to remove most of the water but the from tank had to be bailed out by hand half sponge full at a time, what a job!” The boats were all rigged ready for sailing and tested the following day. You Tube What’s it like to sail our keel boats? Check out our club videos on Rutland Civil Service Sailing Club YouTube Channel by using this link https://bit.ly/3wMCTgp We regularly update the channel with clips of our members sailing, be sure to hit the subscribe but-ton to be the first to see our new content. The Great British Weather! Due to the disappointing weather conditions, April and May proved not to be the best for sailing. Nevertheless, there were a few occasions a Dave & Mike collecting the masts some of us managed to get out on the water and we loved it.Thankfully, the weather has taken a turn for the better for us sailors and we’ve been out a couple of times over the last May Bank Holiday – Force 2 - 3, giving us Mediterranean sailing conditions. We have now had 70% of our membership sail so far this season, Tony Garrick reflects on his experience of being back on the water.
30
