| Local Knowledge |
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Sailing at Island Barn is a simple affair - no tides, no currents, no other traffic. Most of our opens get exclusive use of the water so you don't even have to worry about other races or cruising sailors. The water gets deep rapidly and is at turtling depth almost as you get to the end of the pontoons, so launch is very easy, and even falling in won't damage your boat. This has one side-effect; anything you drop in is gone for good, so secure all sinkables - Laser sailors may wish to invest 20p in a length of strong cord to tie their rudders to their traveller fairleads, just in case. In normal water depth conditions (99% of the time) no-go areas are limited to 25 yards from the outlet towers (to the left as you look from the clubhouse) and you must also not go inside the chequered buoy moored off the clubhouse - this is to ensure that you don't hit the inlet pipes. All pontoons are available to all sailors, and there are six launch ramps round the reservoir so plenty of room for all.
Click for a Map of the reservoir, showing where all the race mark buoys are.
When you arrive...
You'll go through the first set of gates off Ray Road, and then along the road to the reservoir. Please keep the speed down to 10mph or less. Go over the cattle grid, and stop inside (clear of the gates) to unhitch your boat. Leave it to the left of the gates, and then park your car in the car park to the right. Please do not use the spaces marked with signs nearest the clubhouse, and park at an angle to maximise use of space.
As you will see, access to the water is via a ramp with a powered winch. It does look intimidating, but it isn't really, and at Open meetings there will be a club member on hand to operate the winch for you - all you need to do is walk up with your boat. At the top, signal to the winch operator, untie the rope and wheel your boat clear of the top of the ramp.
Please keep boats and cars clear of the bottom of the winch ramp.
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