As I Saw It (and remembered it!)

Saturday, 12 April 25

Well, that was a bit of a disappointing and soggy finish to the club’s sailing season.

With a forecast of mid to high teens there was plenty of optimism as we launched the boats for the last day of club racing for this season. With Patto out of town he handed the keys of Waterloo Too to Alistair. On Athena, Helen’s crew had deserted her, so she rounded up Mark, Chris N and Ange for the final hit-out. Just as well the scales weren’t in action for the day!! Marty having seen how well The Saint went without him last week made sure he was on board this week.

With 4 boats in the pond and The Project making up the 5^th boat for the day it was off to the bar for lunch. It was during this period that the breeze started to increase and as some showers came through rumblings were made about whether to race or not. The RC hoisted the postponement on shore and set off out to the racing area to assess it for themselves.

At this point Waterloo Too made the call not to go – I suspect this was heavily influenced by Wicko’s hungover state cause by the ‘Skiffie’s Lunch’ the day before. Miller wasn’t much better as evidenced by him sitting out the first round of beers once he finally arrived at the club. Gary and The Project crew made an early call and didn’t even put the boat in.

After having abandoned racing for the smaller boats on the southern course, at about 12.30 the RC made a call and postponement was dropped for the northern course. Time to make a decision. With it being the last race of the season there were the final points and places at stake. Of the remaining boats (The Saint, Athena and Rapscallion), Athena had the most to gain and least to lose so it was Helen acting as king maker – a role she seemed to relish. If Athena went, the other 2 needed to go. By this stage it was averaging high teens, gusting up to high twenties on the bay. Was Helen going to force the issue?? Ultimately sanity prevailed and with simultaneous signoff’s on the sign on app it was time for another drink, at which point the heavens opened justifying our decision. Not long after, the RC called the day off as they were seeing gusts of over 30 kts out on the bay and limited visibility.

With Chris’s famous chicken wings already prepared for the apres racing BBQ, he was off to TP’s BBQ area to get these underway while the rest of us managed to find the only break in the rain for the rest of the day to get the boats out of the water and put away.

The day rounded out with everyone reminiscing over the season, telling tall tales and enjoying each other’s company, re-enforcing the camaraderie this fleet is known for.

Season Results:

Season Points – Line

1. Rapscallion
2. Waterloo Too
3. The Saint

Season Points – Handicap

1. Rapscallion
2. Athena
3. The Project

Squadron Championship (Line)

1. Rapscallion
2. Waterloo Too
3. The Saint/Athena (I think it goes to The Saint on countback)

Question of the week: A certain Knot Easy crew member was seen wearing an Athena crew shirt for the day, raising obvious questions about his loyalty to his still injured skipper. Is this acceptable????  Just putting it out there.

A big thanks to Chris for the wings.

That’s All Folks!!

Yours in Etchelling,

The Nearly Ancient Mariner

This author accepts no responsibilities for any inaccuracies, distortions of the truth or outright lies.)