A beautiful sunny and windy day greeted us today for a sail in Manly. With a large group of participants expected and well over a dozen volunteers to help out we rigged 6 of the Hansa 303s as well as Clea for a busy day’s sailing.
Jeremy bolted out with Andrew as soon as we had a boat out on the water, followed quickly by Ivan in Clea before we had the chance to launch Charlie with Warwick as skipper and Eli as observer. Brian and Malcolm worked the pontoon with Helen manning (or is it womanning?) the registration desk whilst Corey kept everyone honest on the radio. Dylan came down for a sail but decided he would prefer a trip on Charlie with his carer so Warwick came back to make the pickup. Paul from Sargood arrived and went out for a sail with Dennis.
Then the group from Headway made their way to the wharf. Their enthusiasm and smiles rubbed off on the rest of us as Gary, Ari, Peter and Douglas went out with David, John, Peter and Malcolm (who swapped with John who joined the crew on the pontoon together with Marc). On their return the rest of the Headway group, Lee Chau, Mark and Patrick headed out with David, Dennis and John. By then Hanlon had arrived and went out for a sail with Jeremy.
Conditions were a little choppy and nearly everyone came back slightly wet (some of the skippers decided it was a good idea to try to bring back Sydney Harbour in their boats) but all came back with smiles and fun stories to tell, including the discovery of the headrest from a car (the rest of the car must have sunk) and a brand new sleeping bag, both floating in the harbour – feel free to contact Manly Sailability if you think either of them are yours!
Once again a quick and efficient pack up at the end of the day – thanks to all the volunteers who really prove the old adage – many hands make light work!
