Has there ever been a sailing day as surprising as this one? After 2 days of oppressive heat and violent winds, Manly turned on perfect weather for our final informal regatta for this year. There was enough cloud to keep the temperature down, the wind was a gentle, too gentle for some,  7 to 10 knots South Easterly, there were exactly the right number of people there for 6 crews and some on Charlie’s Chariot.

On top of this, our fabulous design team of the 2 Davids arrived with the final trolley, so we now have a Hospitality Trolley complete with drawers that slide like a dream, a liftable table, wheels, and the perfect size to fit into the boat room.

After the trolley had been suitably examined and pronounced perfect by the crew for today, we brought out and racing rigged the 6 boats in the race, established teams, discussed the course and embarked ready for the run across the ferry lane to the prescribed course. Crews for today were:

Nola and Denis in Woody, Eli and John W in Dolly Wallis, Michael and Eileen in Alex, Sasha and Caroline in Ralph Newman, John P and Heather in Black Swan, and Warwick sailing solo in Eli D as David G decided to go to work. Our Support Boat crew was the Driver, Brian, Race Officer, David W, photographer and observer, Corey.

Everything went perfectly for the racing. We had time for 3 races, making it a competitive result list.

Overall results were:

6th — Eli D.

5th—-Black Swan

4th—-Dolly Wallis

2 second places: Alex and Ralph Newman.

1st——Woody.

The racing was extremely close, and the improvement in sailing and rigging skills is quite amazing now that we have started racing frequently.

Helen was left in her element on shore, arranging articles into the trolley to reduce the number of times we need to enter the boat room to pick up necessities, they are now all comfortable encased in the trolley drawers. Thanks so much for this, Helen.

Apologies to Monique who arrived too late to join the race.

After the race, all boats were lifted out and stored away ready for our next sailing day.

  • 2 Davids and a trolley
  • The briefing
  • Sailing towards the course
  • Boats spread out over the course
  • The winners
  • Concentration at the start line
  • The race to the finish line