This morning we had a beautiful interlude of calm and temperate weather for our Sailing Day. The breeze was just right for our little boats, around 6 to 8 knots, and reliably, a South Easter, making sailing easy for our volunteers and participants. There was a heavy cloud cover for most of the day, keeping things cool.
Sailing Coordinator Jennie did a great job keeping things moving, with Sailors and Riggers: Ragnhild, Denis, Michael, Jim, John, Ivan, John P and Steve, in the 6 boats out on the water.
Brian was our Support Boat Driver, and Nola his offsider and photographer. Helen and Wilma were Registrar and Life-Jacket Managers, Corey on the radio, Ken, Eileen, John W., were busy keeping things moving on the deck and pontoon, while our participant sailors were taking their turn having a sail.
Denis arrived early to fix the steering line on Black Swan, which turned out to be a lucky practice, as later in the morning, the steering line on Dolly Wallis also decided to come apart, and needed an urgent fix. This is a signal to us that lines on the boats need to be checked for wear before being taken out.
Sailors Ben, Jack, Declan, Piper, Jasmine, Sarah, Elina, Jay, William, Lachlan and Bennie arrived with their helpers, and each was taken for an extended sail as we had plenty of boats out. Also for training sails went Ken, Keira and Eileen, ensuring that we have a future group of sailors able to take people out. The helpers today were outstanding in their care of the participants, with Peter and Betty, taking a ride on Charlie’s Chariot to check on Ben, Keira going for a sail while Jack was out there, Santosh, Mama, Michael and others supervising their charges on the deck, and on Charlie’s Chariot while the sailing session continued.
After a very relaxing sail, all of the boats were brought back, washed and put away by our keen helper team.
- Jack and Michael in Black Swan,
- John P and Ben in Ralph Newman
- Denis and Kiera in Dolly Wallis
