Author: Neil Weatherley

For those who haven’t seen this article please follow the link to Practical Boat Owner website

Tinker dinghy: the inflatable boat that could do it all! – Practical Boat Owner

We had nine boats over the weekend and three good days of sailing. Saturday and Sunday were racing with a cruise around the lake on Monday and a personal handicap race. Saturday was very windy and Saturday was lighter winds but we managed to get six races in with Al, Lindsey and Stuart taking 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd.

As always Swarkestone sailing club looked after very well.

This is the last rally on the sailing calendar for 2026 and will be held at Swarkestone Sailing Club in Derbyshire.  This club has hosted us for several years and provides an excellent venue. This is another of our extended rallies for this year and as with the previous ones you are not required to attend for the full duration .

 Sailing

The usual racing will be held on Saturday and Sunday, if you do not wish to race you will be able to free sail. Safety boat cover will be provided for all on both days.

On Monday (subject to confirmation) in addition to free sailing it is proposed to run a pursuit race with individual handicaps and/or novelty event. For the novelty event please bring an empty 4pt plastic milk bottle and a 4ft (1.2m) length of strong string with which to tow it behind your boat.

Full safety boat cover will not be available on the Monday, however, the club has kindly agreed to provide a safety boat which can be moored to the pontoons which we can use in the event of an emergency.

If you have not received a entry form via Email from the Rally Secretaries then use the contact form on the events page to request an entry form. Click here for the form.

 

An interesting weekends weather. On Saturday the gusts in the morning were forecast at 40mph+ and the afternoon was 30mph+. Six boats went out in the afternoon for a general sail and although they all left the shore fully reefed and with little jibs it soon became apartment that  the gusts were not as bad as expected and most shock out their reefs and opted for full mains whilst on the water.

A great meal in the evening at the Sun inn in Bassenthwaite.

Then Sunday morning arrived with a mirror finish to the lake and not a breath of wind, having talked to the local sailors they suggested it might come in around 1pm but the club races were cancelled. So in the afternoon ten tinkers went out for two races in light winds.

The plan for tomorrow morning is a cruise down the lake and back and then either free sailing or pack up.

Looking forward toi seeing everyone at Swarkestone in October.

Light winds and late tides restricted our racing a bit but 11 boats attended over the weekend. Below are the results.

15th August.

This years AGM will be held at St James Community Centre, St James Church, Church Lane, Birdham, Chichester, PO20 7HG starting at 16:00.

The minutes of last years AGM can be found here

The fourth of our rallies this year, the venue is at Chichester Sailing Club (https://www.cyc.co.uk/) (CSC) and the date, 15 – 18 August 2026. This has been a popular meet in the past and is the only rally where we sail on tidal waters.

As with all our extended rallies you do not have to commit to the full four days in order to attend, just let us know when you fill in the entry form on which days you will be attending.

 The provisional programme for the rally is:

Chichester Rally Programme

 (Note – all days/times provisional and subject to weather)

Friday 14 August     

Arrivals and setting up. Boat rigging at sailing club

8pm – Welcome followed by informal social gathering at Bell Caravan Park Rally Field – bring your folding chairs. (Will be outside so obviously weather dependant)

Saturday 15 August

10:15am Briefing at Chichester Yacht Club

10:30am Access to water for Racing or Free sailing

Safety boat cover provided for all boats within designated area (during race periods)

High Tide – 12:38

4:00pm AGM To be held at St James Community Centre, St James Church, Church Lane, Birdham, Chichester, PO20 7HG

 6:30 Bring your own/arrange delivery of takeaway and eat in communal group at Bell Caravan Park Rally Field – bring your folding chairs. (Will be outside so obviously weather dependant)

Sunday 16 August

11:00am Briefing at Chichester Yacht Club

 11:15am Access to water for Racing or Free sailing

Safety boat cover provided for all boats within designated area (during race periods)

High Tide –  13:22

Evening – bring your own BBQ and eat in a communal setting followed by social gathering (at Bell Caravan Rally Field – bring your folding chairs)

Monday 17 August

Sailing cruise or motor cruise

Games evening (at Bell Caravan Rally Field – bring your folding chairs)

Tuesday 18 August

Sailing cruise or motor cruise

Evening – informal social gathering (at Bell Caravan Rally Field – bring your folding chairs)Wednesday 19 August – Pack up and fond farewells

If you are not on the mailing list or haven’t received the signup email please contact the Rally Secretary via the link here.

This years rally at Rutland Water is currently being organised and those on the rally distribution list should have received details via email. If you haven’t please use the rally contact form to ask the rally sec to send them to you. Click here for details.

The Spring 2026 edition of the eTravelogue is now live on our website. We’ve made some format updates based on your feedback, but if you have any suggestions for further improvements, please share them with the editor. We hope you enjoy this edition and look forward to seeing many of you out on the water soon.

Click here to view

Start of the new season for 2026. Our first rally is kindly being hosted by  Cotswold Sailing Club, South Cerney in Gloucestershire (GL7 5QJ).  Hopefully you can find your Tinker and all the other paraphernalia and come and join us!

As with all our extended rallies you do not have to commit to attend for the full period, if you are only able to make it for some of the days you are still welcome.

Camping at the Club is available from 2pm Thursday 16^th until 12 noon on Tuesday 21st.

Access to the water will be available Friday to Monday as and when safety boat cover is available. In addition to the normal couple of days of competitive racing at the weekend there will the opportunity to some free sailing, learn some new sailing techniques and get advice on boat set up.

If there is enough interest and conditions are suitable, a pursuit race with individual handicaps and a novelty race will be run on Monday.

If you haven’t yet signed up please contact the Rally Secretary via the Events page.