Whitefriars SC visit 16th July 2021.

Some time ago the Midland District Committee were invited down to Whitefriars SC to come and see the club and its facilities. Unfortunately, we had to postpone this because of Covid restrictions earlier this year, but last Friday we managed to take up the invite.

Three of the Midland District Committee (Stephen Hodgkinson, Mike Ewart & Gordon Sears) could make the trip, so we loaded up with a selection of boats and equipment on a bright sunny morning and travelled to the venue which is on the Cotswolds Water Park.

Whitefriars SC is on a peninsular with secure gated access so if you are thinking of visiting you must contact the club first to arrange things.

We arrived around 10:00am to be met by Paul Barton and a few of the club members who were rigging their yachts. After signing the visitors’ book, we were shown around the club facilities and the outside docks and slipways. There is a hard edge all around and sufficient water depth to launch an IOM almost anywhere.

After a initial sail we moved around to the northerly side as this was the general wind direction for the rest of the day. We then gathered on the veranda and Paul B and the team gave us a short history of the club and its aims. The philosophy is for everyone to enjoy their sailing and through this they are continuing to add members. Each member is a full member of the dinghy club and so they have access to all the facilities, such as a galley, meeting room, rescue boats etc, and this Friday for instance we had the lake almost to ourselfs. There is sufficient room to put out two full size courses on either side of the peninsular, and it has a raised race control building looking out over the area.

The Midland District Committee then introduced themselves and we answered any questions arising.

Back on the water and there was a wide variety of boats sailing from Mike E sharing his A boat with everyone to a pair of IOM’s with Stephen H helping out with these, whilst I was doing a bit of filming.

There is also a couple of displacement class boats that are part of the Whitefiars SC fleet. Here is a Nottingham J class gaff rigged yacht and it was sailing beautifully in the light conditions.

There was also a Lionheart class yacht sailing, this is a home build by Paul B and had a large rig up for the first time.

By increasing the depth of the keel this design can carry more sail and the improvement to the sailing characteristics makes it easier to handle.

After lunch we got back on the water and this time, we were joined by a scale sailboat. It had independent control of all sails and was using 6 channels of radio control.

I then helped setting up and trimming a new DF95, we had to make some small adjustments to the winch travel and the centring of the rudder, we then put on a trim, and went sailing. One of the other members had loaned me a DF95 and so we went off and did some testing as a pair, by the end of the session we had both boats performing well in the conditions. The only real difference was down to the sailing experience.

It was at this point that Stephen H got out his RG65 and joined in with the fleet, watching this little boat with it’s swing rig darting around the DF95’s shows just how quick it can be.

Overall, we had a good day and have agreed to investigate organising an invitational mid-week race so that the club can gain experience in running an event with visitors.

Thanks to Stephen H, Mike E from the MD committee and Paul Barton, Garry Stephenson, Terry Hewlett, Julian Richards, David Wilkinson, Tony Judd & Miles Bozeat from Whitefriars SC for a good day out.

MD Webmaster.