It’s August and that means it’s time for Summer Camp! Fourteen young sailors ranging in age from 10 to 14 have signed up for a week of fun on and off the water. There’s something about the first week of August: no wind or lots of wind, every year it’s the same and this year has started off in the ‘lots’ category. As in 20 knots gusting to 35 knots.
Monday
Given the forecast for the strong wind to increase during the day, coaches Matt and Mandy decided to start off with some double-handed sailing. Two Topaz Vibes and one 2000 were reefed down and launched with three to a boat, each helmed by one of the more experienced sailors. The other sailors went out in the RIB with the coaches so that on-the-water crew changes could be managed. A second RIB, manned by Matt’s daughter Kiera (a qualified Dinghy Instructor and Powerboat driver) and son Hayden, were providing safety support. The 2000 is quite a lot more stable than the Vibes and its crew only went swimming once, while there were multiple capsizes by the Vibes. Everyone came ashore for lunch full of enthusiasm after a fun morning, although rather wet.
After lunch the wind had increased, so five Picos went afloat, each with two sailors, again with the others in the RIBs for on-the-water crew changes. Several very strong gusts meant that most of the sailors were brought ashore on the RIBs although two of the Picos managed to sail back to shore, while the RIB went to retrieve the abandoned Picos (on their sides and drifting slowly towards the dam).
Squash and cakes, the traditional mid-afternoon refreshment, came next and then the coaches decided to give the Picos one more go. So two heavily reefed Picos were launched, two-up, with the other sailors in a RIB. After a while the coaches decided it was safe to launch a third Pico, and the three reached between buoy X and the inshore mooring buoys, where there was some shelter and the water was a bit flatter. Looking towards the west of the lake, the water was very rough and full of white horses.
Then a massive rain storm could be seen coming across the lake from the west, accompanied by even stronger wind, so everyone hurried ashore, staying ahead of the strongest wind but unfortunately not avoiding the torrential rain. At the end of day 1 of Summer Camp 2025, there were tired and wet sailors but plenty of big smiles!
Tuesday
Although the strength of the wind by 10am was similar to yesterday, the direction and forecast of strong gusts meant the coaches decided against going on the water. Instead it was a morning of land-based games, including manhunt, sardines and rounders.
A call to Heather, club manager (who kindly answered although she was on holiday), arranged for a trip to the mini golf in the afternoon. The mini golf course is at the Visitor Centre on the north shore by the dam, so after lunch the group set off on foot to walk round via the cycle path.
Mandy was very proud that she beat Matt at golf. Lucas won the Team Grafham golf prize.
Everyone had great fun playing golf and bouncing on the giant trampoline, but were hoping that tomorrow would bring the forecast sunshine and lighter winds.
Wednesday
The forecast was correct and the day dawned sunny with a nice south-westerly breeze. The morning saw several double handers and some Picos and Toppers going afloat for a sail around the lake. After a few radioed instructions to the double handers who were also using their spinnakers: “Bear away!” “Gybe!” “Drop the kite!” everything calmed down and the group set off to circumnavigate Grafham Water. This is a long way – for those who don’t know, the cycle path that mostly follows the shore is 9 miles long so the on-water distance is probably more than 7 miles.
It was gone 1pm by the time the fleet returned to shore so a late lunch in the cafe was followed by a briefing about the afternoon session. This would be spinnaker sailing with everyone taking turns in the four spinnaker boats: two Topaz Vibes, one 2000 and one Topaz Magno. The sight of them all flying their spinnakers at once was spectacular!
Everyone was having so much fun that no-one wanted to come ashore for afternoon squash and cake, so these were ferried out by a RIB driven by Kiera to each of the boats in turn. This required good seamanship as the sailors kept alongside the RIB while drinking their squash and eating their cakes, which were all appreciated. The group returned to shore looking forward to day four on Thursday.
Three of the group – Lucas, Samual and Izzy – stayed on to join in evening Club Racing. They all did very well and especially Lucas who came 6th in the single handed handicap fleet.
Thursday
After yesterday’s great conditions, the day started sunny but with a brisk wind – fine for the planned match racing. Two up in Picos, this was an excellent exercise as most hadn’t done it before. The shouts between the teams could be heard from the shore. The match racing was won by Lucas and Lachie, with Samual and Sam second and Abbie and Izzy third.
After lunch everyone got a chance to try different boats, including a Laser Radial and a Laser 4.7. After a break on shore for squash and cakes, the mega paddleboard was inflated and towed round to a mooring buoy with the whole team on board. A lot of balancing games (and not balancing) were enjoyed, culminating in a fairly successful attempt at a pyramid of the whole team.
Friday
The last day of camp always sees the Regatta. The group could choose which boat to sail, either single or double handed. A briefing explained the start sequence, the flags to be used and the course to be raced and everyone got ready to go afloat while the course was being laid. Conditions were perfect – this is very unusual as normally there is no wind or too much for the Regatta.
The race officer ran three short races, the faster boats completing three laps of the triangular course while the slower ones did two. Then it was back to shore for the prizegiving once the race results had been calculated. As is usual, the instructors each nominated their ‘Star of the Week’, these were Lachie, James and Arthur. The result of the racing was: 4th Ellie in a Topper, 3rd Izzy in a Laser Bug, 2nd Abbie in a Tera Pro and 1st Lucas and Samual in a Topaz Vibe. Everyone was presented with a medal and a certificate and then it was time to say goodbye, although several sailors promised to be at Team Grafham tomorrow.