A cool morning and strong breezes were a weather feature this morning. With a steady 10 knot SSE forecast, we decided to go ahead with sailing, and see what happened. Luckily, the wind did not get any stronger, and the day warmed up as we got going. A strong volunteer team of Bob, Sailing Coordinator, David W, Boat Operations Manager, Peter H, Pontoon Manager, John (Support Boat Driver) Britta, observer, got the day moving. David G was busy doing some maintenance work. Sailors Dane, Ray, Mal, Ivan, Vince, Helene and Crosbie were kept busy taking turns, while Ariane, Peter H, Jerome, and John helped on the pontoon, and Ray kept time on deck. Helen was the registrar, Joely the life-jacket lady, Marie was the chef, Patrick and Tania fitted in where needed. Jack managed to get in a couple of extra sailing lessons, as the breeze was too strong today for him to take anyone with a disability out sailing. He also managed to get in some good knot practice.Photo of Megan being lowered into Black Swan

Tony was a tower of strength in his roles of radio fixer and general helper. Alan sat near the registration desk and waited for the wind to die down to enough knots to make it safe for him to sail, and Megan kept everyone amused as they walked in. Our sailors today were Maurine, Luca, Megan, then Heley, Bart, Rodney, Daniel, Jordan and Mavic from Rap’n’Rave,Photo of Helene and Jordon in Alex. Anna, Grant, Ashley and Kerri from Washington House, and Vanessa. We were rewarded by the most beautiful smile from Vanessa while she was out sailing with Vin.

Photo of That incredible smile from Vanessa

Photo of Heley using the jib on Dolly WallisPhilip arrived later, but decided not to try out his new rudder indicator on the water as the wind was a fraction too much. He did, however try it out on the deck, and will give it a spin next time.

The best thing to report was the cooperation that is now obvious between all the traffic on the deck around lunch-time. We managed to get everything put away at the same time as the Juniors and Manly Sailing were getting their gear out and set up without any bumping or hassling. A great result after a couple of weeks of figuring out how things have to work to reduce risk to all parties.