(Click on the thumbnails for larger versions; use your browser's "Back" button to return. All photos by Judy Boebert.)

Two views of the lake. It is almost 900 feet long and 200 feet wide. On the other side of those sand dunes is the Irish Sea, from which the wind blows unimpeded. Fleetwood is legendary for strong winds and waves -- common advice is to hold your boat underwater for 10 minutes, and if the hatch doesn't leak then you're ready for Fleetwood.  The lake is also a sanctuary for the rare Mute Swans, which add an air of quiet dignity to the proceedings. (In contrast to the swans at the Round Pond, one of which bit a chunk out of one the San Francisco boat's vane.)

The USVMYG burgee flies from the clubhouse pole.
 

The invasion fleet moves on. Rigging in the spacious Fleetwood clubhouse. Jim Harvey, the San Francisco Commodore, is in the foreground and I am in the back.

Needless to say, you have to have a mate to free sail a lake this size. Members of the Fleetwood club and their families acted as "free mates" and turned whoevers boat was in range.  The young 'uns in particular did an impressive job.

Our event was at the beginning of a sailing week that included the UK vane A Boat championships, so we had a lot of company. Here's a modern vane-steered M class boat, a fascinating excercise in modern technology.

First launch at Fleetwood, on practice day. That's Mel Harvey, Jim's dad, in the background.  Mel is a young 80-something and more than kept up with the rest of us.

Off she goes, in uncommonly light winds for this lake.  I named her "Ex Libris" because just about everything I know about this game I got from books.  What a thrill -- all the effort and scrapped hulls and other mistakes and frustrations just drop out of memory at a time like this.

Mel's boat, looking good.

Setting up for a practice run under spinnaker. I brought four, of different sizes and shapes. This is a smaller "Jimmie Durante" made from 3/4 oz. dacron.

And here she goes, running like a train with the sliding rig racked all the way forward and just starting to "surf" on the waves.  This is where the "free mates" such as the gentleman in the background are so important; there is no way anybody but a sprinter could keep up with an M, much less an A, boat on the run under spinnaker. With a little practice and luck you can trim to run the entire length of the lake without touching either side -- another singular thrill.

Testing another spinnaker, my "light air" model made of 1/2 oz. ripstop polycarbonate.  I thought this was a really big "chute," until I saw the ones the UK skippers use.
 

Click here for the rest of the pictures of Fleetwood.