Llandegfedd Lake 26th June

This was a new location for a very small Drascombe Rally. It is a lake owned and run by Welsh Water near to Pontypool.

Llandegfedd Reservoir is a large reservoir north of Newport. It is run as a country park and supports a sailing club and windsurfing school with rescue cover provided by the park wardens. Not surprisingly, with the upkeep of this service there is a charge for sailing on the reservoir, payable as either an annual fee or a day ticket (special rates can be negotiated for groups.)

There are limitaions in that sailing craft are not allowed to use engines and there is a restriction on length to 20 feet. Moksha shrugged her shoulders and managed to convince the warden that she was under 20 feet. She would not be so lucky next time!

Sailing without a motor certainly hones your sailing skills and other than a little difficulty in starting off from the shore we had no problem sailing. A fresh breeze came up in the afternoon and we had enjoyable day achieving speeds of up to 4 knots. There is an active Sailing club with facilities. The launching area is rather restricted for a large boat like a Coaster.

We will go again but probably take a smaller boat such as Topper Topaz.

Beale Park 10th June 2011

Top:- A diagram of a proposed new boat based on a Swallow Boat Bay Raider. The idea is to include a crawl in and die cabin and keeping as much as posssible the sailing qualties of the open boat.

Bottom:- Bay Cruiser 23 sailing in a breath of wind.

Sailing at Newport, Parrog Beach, Pembrokeshire

On the 28th May 2011 we attended the Camping and Caravaning Boating Group meet at Parrog, Newport, Pembrokeshire. This is an annual event which we have been attending every year for more over 10 years. Newport Bay is located just North of Dinas Head giving an interesting sailing area with beautiful scenery of the headlands and the Presseli mountains. Unfortunately the Nevern River at Newport is very tidal with the river entering the sea over a large sandy beach. Access is restricted by a sand bar which is only passable two hours either side of HW. Moorings are drying, but are cheap at £20 a week. You need a dinghy to get to you mooring or you can wade over the beach and get wet before the tide rises too high.

The weather at the beginning of the week was windy and made the bar impassable. The tide times were poor with high water late in the afternoon or in the early hours.

I did not get out until the Wednesday evening when the wind had died down and managed a few hours sailing in the Bay. I sailed the next morning leaving at 07:30 hours but the sea was like a mill pond. I motored to Cwm yr Eglwys, anchored and made a cup of coffee. By the time I came out of Cwm a slight breeze had come up from the North and I had a nice sail back to the River Nevern.