Monday was a lovely winter day for sailing. Although a little cool, the day was bright and sunny with light westerly winds initially. Boats were rigged early; volunteer numbers were a little down with many away for winter. We had a new volunteer Peter Bennell, welcome Peter to Sailability. We had Wilma on the desk and Corey managing the boat timings. Ragnhild took out Charlies Chariot with Eli as her partner who was busy taking pictures. Nola did a great job managing the top deck with kitting out everyone with life jackets and organizing the new slings. David was kept busy on the pontoon along with Peter and Joe. Denis, Michael, Vince, Warwick and Ken all doing a wonderful job sailing in challenging conditions. Everyone as usual mucking in with any job required.
Morning started quietly with Shane heading out first with Denise, quickly followed by Emily from Page Avenue going out with John. The Aruma group also joined and as the morning progressed so too did the wind build, making the sailing very exciting. There were fast returns back to the pontoon with the sailors having strong winds behind them, but everybody had fun. James, from Aruma, had a great time with Warwick, they decided to go and catch a couple of boats by accidently getting their ropes caught, kept Charlie Chariot on their toes, but nothing too hard for skilful operator Ragnhild on the wheel to solve. They also had a few fast attempts to return to the deck as the wind was building, but eventually getting back safely. James had a big grin from the adventures they had on the water. Sadly, when the Birds group arrived around 11am, the winds and grown too strong to continue, but a lucky few had a spin on Charlies Chariot including Danny and Holly with their carers. Thank you, carers and volunteers, for making the day run smoothly and my job, as coordinator, very easy. Jackie Morgan.
