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Rutland Recommendations

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MarkF:
Hi all,
We are hoping to take our new-to-us BR20 to Rutland Water for a maiden voyage sometime next week, depending on the weather and light winds.
I've found the RYA dinghy trail posted on the forum, which looks promising. 
I just wondered if anyone can offer some advice please about where best to launch (I'm waiting to hear back from the RSC) where we can safely leave our car + trailer. 
Does anyone know if it is necessary to book in advance?
Also are there any areas that are restricted or tend to get extremely busy.  We'll be sailing with children, so we are aiming for zero drama and possibly ice-cream!
Many thanks,
Mark.

Graham W:
Mark,

Congratulations on your purchase. 

Someone should be along shortly to answer your geographical questions.  Just be aware that petrol outboards aren’t allowed on Rutland Water, so unless you’re electric, don’t get stuck with a failing wind!

Willie The Rut Lander:
Hi Mark
I've recently acquired my BRe, previously having sailed at Rutland SC for many years, so just given up my membership. You have two choices:
1. RSC at Edith Weston (what3words///starts.watchdogs.acrobat) - Good facilities (changing, showers, bar, cafe and mini chandlery) and generally easy launching. Call to check cost. When I launched a couple of months ago (for my shakedown sail) they weren't sure whether to charge me £27 or £40 (so quite pricey). You should get your BR20 on the water for £27 I think (maybe even less) but they were convinced my BRe was a cruiser. There are numerous slipways but the most suitable one is probably at: w3w///upholds.boosted.recur.  Club website: https://www.rutlandsailingclub.co.uk/
2. Whitwell Watersports Centre (w3w///begun.eventful.talked). Facilities not as good as RSC and Whitwell creek can, apparently, be painful to sail from but I've not sailed there for nearly 40 years so that's not first hand experience. Facilities are a bit hit an miss as well and you can find yourself launching through lots of other novice water users which may make it a little trickier.

Just be aware that although Rutland Water is 3,000 acres, the extremities are off-limits for sailings, so no sailing west of (Upper) Hambleton in the southern arm for example. Also, no anchorages etc.

BTW - Graham is spot on re outboards unless you're fishing in an Anglian Water fishing boat. They have a quite similar attitude to kayakers - Rutland Kayak Club can only go out on a Sunday morning and only in a group but kayakers fishing can seemingly do what they wish whenever they wish. I digress. 
Having said all that, Rutland is a good safe bet for a shakedown sail.

Willie

Conor:
I'd be interested to hear how you get on, I also have just got a new-to-me BR20 and am based at Graham so planning a trip to Rutland sometime soon to try trailing and sailing.

Nicky R:
We used to have Willie's BRE and launched it at Rutland several times. We’ve generally used Whitwell and found that it’s fine. As Willie said, the creak be busy and it’s very sheltered, so we’ve generally used paddles to get out and into the lake itself. The novices tend to be spread out and not moving fast, and the lack of wind means we’ve not been moving fast either, so we’ve not had a problem getting through them.

The facilities at Whitwell are fine - not the poshest, but they have everything you need (loos, a cafe and a tiny water sports shop). Ice cream is available from the harbour cafe, and I think maybe the water sports shop too.

launching is relatively easy - they have a pontoon next to the slip so you can keep your feet dry, but it is a very shallow slip so the boat may need some pushing to get it off the trailer. There is plenty of car and trailer parking fairly close to the slipway (either in the little car park next to it, or on the grass at the top of it), and you can tie the boat up on the pontoon while you sort out the car and trailer, or longer if you want.

No need to book in advance, but just check there’s nothing on that blocks the slip. They run a triathlon once a year and shut it when that’s on, but I don’t know if other events shut it too.

The lake itself will have plenty of room unless there’s a large sailing event on. It looks like the Toppers are there on the 23rd and 24th June, so there’ll be lots of boats on the lake that weekend. But they’ll launch from the sailing club and the northern arm will probably be relatively quiet. I don’t know how busy the other sailing events get.

Hope that helps.

Nicky

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