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Tales 10th February, 2007
What a season we are having! Whoever killed the Chinaman
has a lot to answer for as yet another day’s
sailing was restricted due to fickle winds. An interesting
conversation at the start boat was had between father
and son Russell & Andrew Smith. Andrew and Doug
Williams teamed up on the 470 and obviously Russell
was expected to ‘fix it’ from the rescue
boat.
“Dad I don’t have any wind in the sails.”
“Pull on the outhaul.”
“It’s no good. I can’t get the sails
right”
“Bag your sails.”
“I can’t get into the wind.’
“Well… neither can anyone else.”
“Where’s the wind, dad?”
No reply
“Dad! There’s no wind! What’ll I
do?
No reply
“Dad… I wanna go in.”
The race was postponed for a short time then, as
a light breeze began to kick in, the flags and hooters
went off! Some other things went off as well as three
boats jostled for pole position within metres of the
start boat. Another conversation was overheard that
cannot be repeated in print!
The girls (and Peter Bourne) on the Yngling managed
a ripping start and set themselves up for a good day
to come while in the keelboat start the old foxes
on “Interlude” hit the line ‘on
the bell’ with perfect timing. Gary Millar,
sailing his new boat, “La Boheme” found
himself parked at the top buoy – perhaps a new
wristwatch is now in order! Then again, considering
the five minute start given to competitors, “La
Boheme” came home quite strongly and will be
worth watching in the future.
Geeks and Stewie on “Not Your Average White
Boat” blitzed the field in the light conditions.
The wind that the starters had seen coming turned
out to be nothing more than a mild front that, once
passed, left competitors gnashing their teeth and
drifting about in all directions. “Interlude”
lost patience and headed in, leaving only “Tumbleweed”
for Gary to chase, unless you count the girls (and
Peter) on the Yngling, of course.
Ultimately, Andrew and Doug did quite well, keeping
Lids and Leo at bay on the first leg, before losing
it on a spinnaker run that took them half way to King
Island. Even then, in winds not suited to the FF,
he caught up again into the wind and beat them home
on the shortened course.
No doubt, the day was frustrating for the sailors.
However, it was a picture to behold from the start
boat. At one point an aeroplane flew overhead across
a beautiful blue sky with puffs of white cloud and
green hills proving a background to the great sporting
events taking place out of the surf lifesaving club.
Paddlers were stroking along magnificently on the
journey from Marengo whilst waves crashed onto the
rocks at the harbour. Yachts, finally displaying full
sails were having fun across the Bunbury and Geeks,
adventurous as ever, had the spinnaker flying as he
weaved in and out of the paddlers, chatting and challenging
them to greater efforts.
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