Those of you who have been Swallow Boat owners for longer than me will remember that there was a very successful rally on Lake Bala in central Wales in June 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGwDhhMAp-M I propose that we do it again.
I have been in contact with our potential hosts, Bala Sailing Club, who will discuss it at their next meeting on 27 January. They have slipways, a pontoon, somewhere to park trailers and all the usual sailing club ablutions
http://www.balasc.org.uk/Lake Bala (or Llyn Tegid in Welsh) is over 100 ft deep, four miles long (SW to NE) by one mile wide and surrounded by mountains and high hills. Think Ullswater on a smaller scale. Winds are predominantly from the SW but can be changeable and fluky, which makes the sailing even more interesting. It can be a great place to try out that previously unused spinnaker. Outboards (except electric ones) are not allowed, so oars will be needed in the unlikely event that the winds die completely.
If we go ahead, each participant will be responsible for paying their own fees to BSC. After a day on the water on Saturday (possibly arriving the night before), the usual drill is to haul the boats out on their trailers and park them up at BSC or the campsite ready for relaunch and another sail on Sunday. There are plenty of accommodation options and those that have done this before are enthusiastic about the local pubs.
Please let me know if you are interested, either through this forum, by pm or at my less than reliable email graham wickenden at btopenworld com, with dots in all the usual places.
If you are fairly new to all this, Lake Bala is a great place to find out what your boat can do. I first started sailing my own BR20 there and have spent many happy weekends blasting and/or ghosting up and down the lake, watching the wildlife and enjoying the scenery.