A beautiful morning welcomed us to Manly Yacht Club this morning. A balmy 6 knot breeze, lots of good friends to help with the boats, and a long list of friends coming down to go for a sail with us.

John W was the Sailing Coordinator, Pontoon Manager; John P, Boat Operations; Denis, Support Boat Driver; Warwick, Registrar; Helen, Lifejackets; Ros and Wilma, Sailors: Ivan, Michael, Denis, Jennie, Ragnhild, Brian, Ted, Rob. On the pontoon were Tony, Harry and Raquel and up on deck the extras were Corey on the radio, and Helene helping the participants. And the sunshine and the fresh air, and lots of friendly participants and their carers.

Craig and Jenny from Royal Far West brought Zach, Benson, Charlize and Lachlan. Benson elected to sit in the sun and watch his friends, and Zac, Charlize and Lachlan sailed out into the wide blue yonder, where they stayed for the whole session, until the next person arrived: Scott, with his mate Oscar.

Then in quick succession: Sunnyfield Allambie with Ginny, Vanessa, Luke, Tamara, Chrissy and Anna.

Meg from BeeCosWeCare brought Jack and Chelsea.

Unisson French’s Forest brought Mahina, Murray, Anna, Des, Sifa, Warren and Brodie with Laura and Paula in charge.

Achieve brought David, Thomas, John, Fozia and Risnab, with Charles.

Memorable moments were when Mahina, describing her welcome to Eli described the comparative heights of the two with hand signals of tall and short, with an incredibly cheeky grin.

Scott walked backwards all the way to the pontoon, but turned to the front to embark.

Murray made himself so comfortable in Vin that he slipped all the way down, making it impossible for Brian to sail him home, so they needed to call for a tow.

Last of all, Sifa has grown so large that he suddenly doesn’t fit into a 303, so chose Charlie’s Chariot as his preferred method of being on the water.

Putting away at the end of the morning was easy because of our great team of helpers. All in all, we can tick it off as a ‘very good day’.

  • A cuppa before we Start.
  • Ivan and Zac in Ralph Newman
  • Rob and Charlize in Eli D
  • Denis and Harry (new volunteer) in Woody
  • Ted and Scott in Black Swan
  • Tamara and Brian in Vin
  • Mahina and Ragnhiild in Vin