We are going to practice launching and recovering ...thought Rutland (whitwell) would be a good place to start ....

Paul 235/40 Lady Penelope.

Paul Burton

We have our 235, called Blue Jazz, sail number 25 at Rutland Sailing Club. We now have a total of six 235`s at the club and one at Whitwell,plus yours making a total of eight boats on the water.

I dont know if you have visited Rutland of late, but at this time of year the water authority pump out alot of water and the level is about 2.5m below normal. There is still plenty of sailing area, but you may find the Whitewell launch slipway a bit greasey, and Whitewell Bay is not very deep when the water is low. I suggest you contact the Water Sports Centre for advise.

Hope it all goes well, my email adress is grahamATcharterdesign.plus.com ( please see note on web site about anti-spam). Please feel free to ask any questions.

Hope to see you on the water.

Graham

Parker 235 Blue Jazz

Graham Ebb

Do you leave yours afloat or launch every time.

We saw the water was low a month or so ago...

We have a Nissan X-trail as the tow car...

Will the level be up soon...with all the rain we have been having ???

We have not launched a boat this size before so any help would be greatful..

Paul 235/40 Lady Penelope.

Paul Burton

We dry sailed ours for the first season, but now it is on a mooring. It make life much easier.

Rutland Sailing Club does allow day visitors, but it is a lot of work to raise the mast, launching, sailing, recovering and then lower the mast all in one day. We usually allow about two hours, from arriving by road with every thing tied down to being ready to launch. I think you would be able to stay the weekend at the club and spread the work over two days if you wanted.

With regards to the rain, it does not make much difference to the water levels at Rutland as all the water is pumped in and out by the Water Authurity. It will be February time before it is anywhere near full again.

Have you considered joining Rutland Sailing Club? It would give you access to alot of your fellow 235 owners and a wealth of experience to draw from. You could dry sail for the rest of this season and then perhaps take a mooring next year. Just a thought !

With regards launching, did you get your Parker manual with your boat? It has a good section on how to launch and recover specificaly for the 235`s. We use a strong launch rope to keep our jeep out the water.

Don`t anticipate being at Rutland this weekend due to work commitments, but we hope to be there next sunday.

Regards

Graham Ebb

Blue Jazz 235-25

Graham Ebb

Rutland is very expensive.....I took a look the other week and worked it out at over £700.........I pay £150 for my mooring...

We also have a dog that comes everywhere with us....NO DOGS at the sailing club......

Dry sailing at whitwell is cheaper...

Just looking to extend my season.

Yes we have the manual....but nothing like giving it a go...

Paul 235/40 Lady P

Paul Burton

Will let you know how it goes...

Whitwell said that because the water is low if we need help their tractor will pull us out FOC....

Paul Burton 235/40 lady P....

Paul Burton

Going to leave her there for the winter...stuck a deal till 1st April.

Good days sailing, wind eased this afternoon but was good...

Anyone tried one of those electric outboards ???

Paul 235/40 lady P...

Paul Burton

Did 18 n.miles top speed 7.4knt, most of the day was spent at 6knots .

Main on the middle reef and various jib settings. 15-20mph wind..

Spent most of the time hanging on trying not to fall off.

Had a bit of a dual with a beneteau 211...about equal..

She is now there for the winter...anyone know about electric outboards....

Paul Burton 235/40 lady penelope...

Paul Burton

We have sailed at Rutland for the last 5 years and have had the Parker all this season, so can give some answers based on experience.

We like Whitwell.

It has all we need; space, reasonable slip, toilets and friendly people. The price is good too - we paid about £350. That includes storage, car parking and launch fees. We don't really want all the extras the club might offer.

We keep the boat ready rigged, mast up etc., and launch her very easily. We can be off sailing inside 30 minutes of arriving and about the same leaving. With the car doing the work it is easier than launching our Wayfarer!! Our car is a Discovery and we have no problems with the slip or the boat storage area.

We sail all year round and have some lovely winter sails.

If you would like to meet up and see how we launch ours, that would be easy to arrange. We do it the simplest way and stay hitched to the car and just float on and float off. The trailer works well and its easy. Our secret weapon is I wear waders to recover - it isn't really necessary but it makes it very easy.

We were interested to see that you sail out of Boston. We want to start 'going coastal' and would like to know more. We live in Crowland and the Wash is our local water.

Brian and Alison Fisher

PS We use an electric motor on our boat. We have a Minn Kota 46 and it will fit - but only just - you have to wriggle a bit and make sure the propeller turns just right but it will go!! It is also quite easy to heave to so you can lift it out and stow it. The boat goes a great deal better without it poking out the bottom! To make it easier to use, I drilled holes in each side of the wooden board and use bolts through these holes to raise it about 6 inches. This allows you to use the clamps on the Minn Kota which need more clareance than the petrol outbaord does.

Brian Fisher

I see there is another RED 235 at Whitwell...The mast is down and it looks brand new..

We have been told to leave ours on the grass, which might be a problem as it gets wetter.

Thanks for the advise on the outboard...going to the boat jumble sun, might grab a bargain.

I am going to Whitwell today (THUR) by myself..my no is 07973385548 give me a ring if you are about.

Paul Burton 235/40 Lady P.

Paul Burton

12 miles, top speed of 5.7kts, average speed around 4-5kts, 10mph of wind.

This launching and recovery is getting easy...

Paul Burton 235/40 Lady P.

Paul Burton

Lovely sunny day 20mph winds about 7 degrees so a bit chilly..

Saw our first other 235 out today...no.07 in blue....

Took the wife and 2 kids today so took it a bit steady...but still saw 6knots on the gps plenty of times..

Paul Burton 235/40 Lady Penelope..

Paul Burton

http://i109.photobucket....aulburton44/100_0361.jpg 

hope it works....you might have to copy and paste in your browser..

http://s109.photobucket....on44/?sc=1&addtype=local 

let me know if the pics work !!!

Paul Burton 235/40 lady p..

Paul Burton

Stephen Godber

Went solo today....so put my full waterproofs, harness/lifejacket, hat , scarf, Gloves on... got the autohelm out ready...

reefed the main all the way down, secured everything down..

Motored out of the creek (electric) untill i could get a clear run..

Stowed the outboard and set off on a beat with a small amount of jib out.

4-4.5kts with quite a few waves breaking over the deck.

Dumping the main in the really big gusts and hanging on.

+6kts on the reaches...covered only 10Nm today with a top speed on the GPS of 6.9knts.

Had a couple of long beats using the autohelm...no problems...gave me chance to fidlle with the string...

Getting her on the trailer straight was not so easy with a strong side wind...but managed on the second attempt...

Paul 235/40 lady p..

Paul Burton.