At Wardleys Marine Yacht Club, not everyday is a Piel Island or an IOM day.
That is, sometimes, Wardleys Marina Yacht Club sailors stay closer to home.
Sailors John and Simon thought it might be nice to have a ‘Wind in the Willows’ river jaunt, visiting the delightful and quite magical sailing environs of Skippool. Big skies, pastoral English countryside, and a squadron of very capable racing dinghies.
This is how it goes. Drop the mooring, tack up to Skippool and don’t go aground, enjoy the spectacle of racing yachties employing their clever tactics, head down to Stannar to check out the Jet Ski excitement, eat sandwiches, drink hot thermos coffee, sail along side other club members swapping banter, and finally ferry glide back to the mooring. By now of course, the tide is ebbing fast.
Ready steady lets go! ‘Matrona Maris’ kindly loaned us her tender.
Jamila on the mud
Mustn’t go aground tacking up to Skipool!
Click on this. At Skipool, see clever tactics and a clever yachtsmen in action. And I believe his plan did work!
Jet Skier at Stanner
River Wyre Jet Skier in action
John crewing on ‘Jamila’ with William skippering ‘Otter’ in the background.
Swapping banter.
‘Jamila’ beating on the starboard tack towards Skippool.
The young John Gorse rushing around hauling-up and setting sails.
John and Simon on ‘Jamila’ on a coffee break.
Doing coffee and Split Selfies. Old and new technology functioning well on Jamila!
‘Jamila’ goose-winging with John at the helm near the Stanner chemical refinery
The helm in John’s safe hands. Wires ropes galore, which still baffle the skipper somewhat. In the back ground the River Wyre luxury apartment complexes, beloved by twitchers, over looking the lush River Wyre bird habitat (wink).
A movie when Mike and Erika buzzed by in their fast motor boat.
There was plenty of wind for our sailing trip to Piel Island this weekend. Saturday saw 20 knots, and that was just in the river! Varied conditions encountered on the way across, including SE and SW winds, usually 15 – 20 knots, but also spells of little wind which made things challenging with a fast springs ebb tide. Also some showers and thunder. The boats from Wardleys at Piel Island were Kjersti, Jamila, Rivendel, Kyle 2, Janvier Six and Moonshine. Coming back on Sunday I encountered a wind gust of 33 knots off Walney Island, but we mostly had 15 – 20 knots North-Westerly, which gave a fast trip back under sail!
The Big Six:
Rivendel
Rivendel. (Darran’s doing a very good impression of “Don’t you know who I am”! Simon B, with a brilliant life like cut-out of Jo)Darren: The veritable ‘Captain John Walker’ aboard Rivendale. And keeping up a steady stream of posts on Facebook!
2. Janvier Six
Alan, Bill, and Pablo on Janvier Six. She surged in to Piel under engine and likewise surged out the following morning. Nothing done by halves. No duffers here, and a capable boat for sure.
3. Kjersti
Skippered by Tom. Kjersti is a rare and fine example of a Westerly Chieftain. With a roomy stern cabin, is where Tom keeps his treasure chest – manuscripts and all.
4. Kyle 2
Andy Sargent’s indomitable yacht Kyle 2 moored off Wild Cat Island. With the only functioning outboard engine amongst the Big Six, Andy assumed the role of ferry man.
5. Moonshine
Moonshine (left) aground with Alcudia and still in the river! “Chump-headed galoots” Nancy Blackett might ask? Well, no, it’s an archive photo! This time, Steve in Moonshine was the first of us sailors to arrive at the Ship and was indeed the last to leave.
6. Jamila
With ‘Peter Duck’ resting back at Wardleys, the more roomy ‘Jamila’ is now taking her place. Sailing at large near Fleetwood. Soon to head out to sea in company with Rivendel.
Jamila sailing close hauled into a Morecambe Bay chop. Blowing F4- F5. Easy going for a Mirage 2700
Out on the bow with the camera. Middle of the afternoon on the outward leg to Piel Island. Wind F3-F4 at this point. All canvas is aloft.
Dramatic photo captures RNLI lifeboat crashing into a wave at 28kts. So said the AIS as it approached. A group of sea canoeists had put out a MayDay on the other side of Walney Island.
The RNLI lifeboat speeding past the Castle on Piel Island.
Forthcoming sail in company to Piel Island is planned for 26th April, sailing out on the afternoon ebb, returning the following morning (weather permitting)
Interested? Please email the club, or phone John Gorse for more information.
A friendly base for Yacht Cruising on Morecambe Bay
