An absolutely perfect day. The sun shone steadily, the sky glowed blue, and the breeze was a steady 6 knot northerly. There was no sign of the clouds and rain that had been forecast, so everyone (and his dog, Tessa) turned up for a sail with us.
Of course, the volunteers got down there early. Denis, Ralph, Helen, Crosbie, Jim, Juliette, Peter, Hugo, Cathy, Caroline, Michael, Barry put the boats out and rigged them. Ralph rowed over to pick up Charlie’s Chariot from the mooring while Barry collected the tools needed to remove the rotten carpet. It only took a few minutes for that job to be done.
By this time, keen early bird sailors Megan, Maureen, Jon and Oliver were life-jacketed up and ready to roll, and new volunteers Jack, Carla and Bec went off for a sail while we waited for our first group. Ray was the time-keeper, Lyn the registrar, Nicky a wonderful pontoon manager. This is your new niche, Nicky, we really appreciate your skills, cool-handed confidence, and positive attitude, along with today’s helpers Kevin, Crosbie and Jim. Tony was learning to use the radio this morning, and a wonderful job he made of it. David was the Boat Operations Manager which was the reason all boats went down to the pontoon properly rigged, and Jackie our most efficient Sailing Coordinator. Barry stayed up top fixing small items as they came in, including the ding that happened to Vin last time we sailed in a gale.
Mathew, Jonathon I, Vanessa, Jonathon G arrived. Tony called the relevant boats back so that we were able to take them out sailing with Ivan, Michael, Cathy, Peter, Crosbie and David. A new sailor, David (S) also arrived but found it difficult to get into a boat. Just then, Charlie’s Chariot happened by, so David and his Dad (Steven) jumped in and had a happy time cruising the Cove until the next change-over. Barbara arrived next with her people from The Housing Connection, so we arranged boats for Tess, Duncan and Diane. Philip and Alan had arrived in the meantime, and off they went solo for their marathon sails in the gorgeous weather. Luca was next, then Kerrie, Analise, Ginny, Jess and Linda from Ben Love House, then Robert, Alyssa and Ben from Balmoral House. Last of all, Marcus, Adam and Danny from Inala arrived.
When Juliette came back from her sail with Grandpop, it was time for the barbecue to get started, so Helen went across to help her with the cooking and dishing up. Sausage sandwiches, cups of tea and biscuits were the popular choice this morning, so that were completely sold out just before everyone was completely sated. Thanks Juliette.
Impressive sailing today from Vanessa, who was so keen to go for a sail that she jumped in the boat with a non-familiar sailor, and just went off with no fussing at all. Also, we were so pleased to be able to learn sailing skills from Hugo Taranto, the Australian Junior MJ’s title holder, aged 12.
One of the Mum’s leaned over to help her son from the boat. OOOps, that phone that had just been waiting its chance to be retired jumped out of her pocket into the water. There was a passer by family, just spectating our activity who jumped into action. Older son, John, whipped off his shirt, Dad whipped out his phone. Son dived in, Dad got the photo, phone was retrieved. Phone is dead and will be buried with honours, but the SIM card has been dried out and can be used for its information in the next phone. The best thing about this story, is that the family has a child, Nicholas, who will be accessing Sailability in the future, and we made some very good friends.
At the end of the day, all was packed away in double quick time using an extra pair of hands from Greg, who just happened by to pick up Hugo, and a great deal of help from Carla and Bec. Thanks everyone for a lovely day.
