A difficult decision had to be made this morning. To sail or not to sail in the possible showers, and cool temperatures. Luckily, we came to the right conclusion, and the sun was definitively shining by the time the boats were out and rigged.
Warwick, Col, Denis and Helen were down early to get the boats out, and by the time the rest of the helpers arrived, there were 6 boats to rig, Charlie’s Chariot to retrieve from the mooring, and tables, gazebos, radio to set up. All together, we had 17 helpers, with Helen as Sailing Coordinator, John as Charlie’s Chariot driver, Corey as observer. Col was the Pontoon Manager, Brian the Boat Operations Manager, Tony looking after the radios. Sailors Denis, Brian, Michael, the 2 Davids, Jim, Ivan, Jack were quickly into the boats, as our early bird sailors; Ollie, Craig, Jonathon and Luca arrived. Warwick and Marc were a wonderful help on the pontoon, and David’s skills of getting the right life-jackets on the right participants had lots of practice.
Then the onslaught started. It was great to see so many people all arriving early, but I think next time we will stagger them a little if possible, so that we do not have such a crowd on the deck all at the same time.
Participants from Sunnyfields, French’s Forest, then MAPS St Ives, Pymble Sunshine and the second Sunnyfields group were socialising nicely on the deck while waiting their turn for a sail. 27 in all had a turn either sailing or sitting on Charlie’s Chariot.
Thanks so much to the carers for today’s session. I’m not quite sure how everyone kept track of their own people, but it was great to see them all having a good time together, while concurrently taking them down to the pontoon ready for a sail, making sure they had a snack and a drink, and took care of other needs.
New helper Ken was a great hand on Charlie’s Chariot and has vowed to get his Power Boat License. David got his tick of approval as competent sailor for the next session.
It is becoming routine for Alyssa to get herself into her life-jacket and wait impatiently for her turn sailing before she asks for a cup of tea. It was great to see James back again after quite a long time of not seeing him, and seeing Sally confidently sit in a boat to go for a sail. Batman was back in his new mask, and Brad was in good voice on the water.
The vote afterwards was that we had made the right decision, it would have been a terrible pity to miss such a beautiful mild day.
