The outstanding feature of this morning’s sail was the lovely families who came down to share our last Sailing Day for 2022.
A little unfortunate was the huge swell that kept breaking into Manly Cove to accompany the westerly breeze. This made sitting on the deck the most comfortable spot to be for our families that joined us. The Weavers, the Webbs, Rob and Andy, the Kemps, and later on, Brad.
Our crew this morning was: Helene, our wonderful Sailing Coordinator for the day, who kept things moving along nicely.
Val came to be the barbecue chef.
Jeremy was the Pontoon Manager in very uncomfortable conditions, with the large swell, and the incredibly high tide which kept the bridge to the pontoon submerged for the larger part of the morning, enforcing bare feet on the pontoon, and less than comfortable on and off-loading.
Rob was Support Boat Driver, Kieran the hard working observer, sailors; Denis, John W, David, Rob/Andy, and Michael, sailing with Ivan.
Our new Volunteer, John Mac went off with Denis for a show of talent, and will return next Wednesday. Helping on the pontoon were Joe and Marc, the barefoot brigade.
It was glorious to welcome back Rob and Andy, who we have not seen for many years, returning for the Family day, and both showed off their sailing skills in the churning water.
The Weaver and Webb families showed strong family bonds as John took out Rebecca, Sophia and Gigi. We needed to wait until the tide receded for Peter to have his sail, as his wheelchair would have been swamped up to the batteries if he had gone earlier. Brad arrived just as we were packing up, but managed a short time on the water.
Our deck crew is much to be admired: Helen as Registrar, Helene and Ros helping with life-jackets and hoist equipment, Jay helping wherever he was needed, Margaret helping Val with the lunch. Thanks so much to everyone who came today to celebrate the end of the year for general sailing.
