Friday, 9th November 2018
After a lot of debate given the weather conditions, the Saturday leg was abandoned and the trip to Balmoral Marina in Geelong was aborted. This of course led to some enthusiastic debate about the relative merits of power boats versus yachts. On Sunday, we headed off to Wyndham Harbour near the mouth of the Werribee River. The wind was a bit patchy but overall a nice sail was had, except when seven motor cruisers from Sandy roared past, headed by ex-con Stevie Richards and TK. Upsets the champagne somewhat!!
After late arrivals of Blue Flyer (from Martha Cove) and Affinity (from Queensland via SYC and Williamstown) presented, a very enthusiastic get together occurred on Pontoon D.
On Monday, after some adventures on the local bus 439, we had a wine tasting and lunch at Shadowfax Winery, attended by 32 thirsty vignerons. The French instructor took quite a shine to one of our party.
Monday evening saw the judging of “Boat Name Contest” . As we had 18 craft (sail 10, motor yachts 8) including names like Jimmy, 4 by 8, Pekeri and Pyewacket (who stayed only 1 hour as part of a “three hour cruise”), there was plenty of material. About 10 entries were received, all were very funny and some were clever. Meltemi (in Queensland) made a desperate attempt for back to back honours by sending an entry via “The Secretary”, but despite a strong entry failed. Several entertaining efforts were disqualified, containing material unsuited for distribution. The winner was in the form of poetry from Lauraine McDonald (off Mark Sutherland’s Vive La Vie). Monday night finished late with George Shaw polishing off his brass instrument and playing the last post, presumably telling us all he was going to bed. Thanks George.
A very wet but uneventful return trip on Tuesday in time for the Melbourne Cup rounded off a very successful and social event. A friendly and enthusiastic crowd of boat people, with a number of “newbies”.
