Hello,

The sailing season is nearly upon us and so I'm happy to announce that KWSC will once again be expanding the cruising elements of the programme with the addition of a second cruising away weekend to take place on the first bank holiday weekend in May, on top of the monthly cruises and September away weekend.

Previous cruising events have been extremely popular with the emphasis being placed on family fun and games both on the water and off. This new event however, had been created for those who want to do more sailing and less waterfighting, although I hope that families will still attend.

We have chosen the bank holiday weekend to enable us to go slightly further afield with less pressure of time and so allow more time on the water to sail and explore in company.

So the plan...

We will be sailing on Loch Ken in Dumfries and Galloway and staying at the Galloway sailing centre. The centre can provide a range of accomodation, although mainly camping, and even have facilities for other outdoor activities should the weather not be suitable for sailing (last resort of course).

For full details of their facilities and prices please see

www.lochken.co.uk or phone 01644 420626

I envisage people arriving either Friday evening or Saturday morning and plan to have a daily muster (with whistle blast of course) to discuss and share sailing plans with the aim to cruise in company. People can then disperse either on Sunday or Monday as suits them best.

I will not be organising any formal social activities but hope that the Kielder spirit will prevail and that we will spend time together off the water as well as on - there is a bar at the sailing centre! Should anyone want to organise anything in particular please feel free and I will try to facilitate in any way that I can!

Please book your own accomodation - the sailing centre are expecting us so please mention KWSC when booking. However, once booked I would be very greatful if you could let me know so that I know who to expect and when to expect you.

If you need any further details or any help with travel/finding or filling boat spaces etc. don't hesitate to get in touch, either by email or phone (details are in last years yearbook).

It should be a great weekend - I look forward to seeing you there.

Ruth

P.S. Put 12th-14th September in your diaries now - Family Away Cruising weekend with sea battles a plenty! Venue tbc.

This is great news. I can thoroughly recommend Loch Ken and particularly the Galloway Sailing Centre, having been there on a couple of occasions to attend courses. It's a very friendly centre and Richard and his family are great hosts. As well as camping facilities they have a very well equipped bunkhouse type lodge - but get get your booking in quick for this as it could fill up early. BTW, the journey from Tyneside to Loch Ken only takes about 2 1/2 hours (possibly slightly longer when trailing a boat) so is actually as close as going to The Lakes for a weekend!

P.S. Let's see how many Drascombes we can get up there guys!!!

For anyone interested it costs £11.50 per night for a 2 man motorhome and £13.50 if it is a 3 man!

Dogs are welcome as long as they are friendly

Cost to launch a boat is £5 a day

Just to remind everybody that this event is rapidly approaching, and to ask again that people let me know once they are booked.

Should be a good weekend,

Hope to see you there,

Ruth

Ruth,

Just to let you know the Matthews/Jelf contingent (3 at the last count) have booked the tipi !!! So if you hear native war chants or see smoke signal or flights of arrows overhead you'll know who it is. BTW, the tipi has the possibility of a campfire INSIDE so, providing we collect enough sticks, we have the facility for a dry social area if the weather's inclement. Now how many can we pack into a tipi........

David

Also, I forgot to mention, we'll be bringing the Lugger so there will be even more spare capacity for those not bringing their own boats (4 Drascombes at the last count!)

David

It's looking like we should be a numerous and jolly band at the weekend, but as ever it is the more the merrier so please feel free to join us.

I haven't looked at the forecast yet as I don't think I want to know!

I'm going to be in touch with the site again in the next couple of days to give an estimate of numbers and an idea of who should be arriving when so if you have decided and haven't let me know yet could you please.

Looking forward to what promises to be an excellent weekend.

R xx