Today felt really good for all sorts of reasons: The first of these were the fantastic sailing conditions, with winds blowing at a very steady 8 knots, mainly a north westerly.
We had a fabulous volunteer team of Helen in charge for the first time, and a wonderful job she made of it, with her calm, unhurried decision making. Barry was in charge of the pontoon, insisting on everyone sticking to the rules, and explaining the importance of catching boats the first time around to add to the smooth organisation of the day. John Weaver was our Support Boat driver, and Corey up to his usual excellence as observer. As John said, “a fly can’t alight on the harbour bridge without Corey seeing it, and commenting” The sailors were Ivan, Samantha, Brian, Peter, John M, Mike and John M, with extra turns taken by Jackie, David G, and John C. Deck crew were: Susan as time-keeper, Dennis, Bob, Philip, Jack, Ella and Sheila, with Tony and David helping on the pontoon. Max came down to help at the start, and went home when he found that he was extraneous to our needs.
Our remarkable web-master, Alan, came down today to try out the modifications we have made to Clea, a 2.3 single sail, so that he does not flop around while trying to sail. Photo of Alan in Clea. He had a ball!!!! Alan was out there, sailing solo for the first time successfully in his life. He did not get off the water for over one hour, and the whole time, he was darting around from a run to a broad-reach, to a close haul and back again, spinning around Manly Cove as if he owns it.Photo of Jack showing Alan the red flag to go in.
We were very thrilled to welcome Peter Hogan, from Sailability Kogarah Bay. Pater came to have a look at how and where we operate, and I have a vague feeling that he was quite impressed.
Participants Yvette, Jack, Gary and Peter from French’s Forest CAPS, then Dominic, Lauren, JoshuaPhoto of Mike taking Josua for a sail. and Nurgul, from Afford, Ashfield, then Allan, Matt, Mohammed and Greg from Sunshine Pymble all had a whale of a time. Thank you so much to their helpers, James, Anna, Holli, Ginty and Orion for being so willing to help to make the day run smoothly.
Jackie brought her friend Clare, and also had a very nice time zipping around the cove.
It didn’t take long to bring the boats up and pack away at the end of the day with such a dedicated group of helpers.
