Its amazing how the enthusiasm of others can encourage you and increase your enjoyment of the moment. That is how it felt to me last Saturday at the club. With many regular sailors away at the Youth and Manly Juniors regatta numbers were down for Saturday’s race. Still even though this race has no impact on pointscore or championship results over 10 boats rigged up and took to the water. And with the exception of the large cats we were just out for the fun of sailing. After the bad weather preceding Saturday who would have guest the near perfect conditions for getting out to enjoy some aquatic activity with your friends.
Sailing days, where there is no results pressure apart from personal motivation to do well, I think are ideal for testing new ideas or giving other crew members opportunities to shine. Today one of Frou Frou’s loyal crew, Alan, had to work and was unable to race. That left me and Peter to do the best we could against our formidable and polished opponents aboard Momentum. And today Peter stepped up to the mark, piloting Frou Frou for most of the race and doing all the hard foredeck spinnaker work as well.
If we were talking about results, Momentum finished a good 6 minutes ahead of Frou Frou which would have given them a win on pointscore and CBH handicap, if we were counting that is.
The cold beer at the end of race sailing club debrief sure tasted good.
There may be a couple of people turn up at the club next Saturday looking for a ride. Anyone needing crew could take advantage of the extra willing bodies.
The End
Trev.