A Full Weekend

Friday: We launched Baby Doll on the Pond at Ratline Shipyards. Official guests included Flight Captain Laurie, Master Shipwright Clive (Ratty) Gilbert, the good Lady Sponsor Eddie, Gaye and me. With the Flight Captains urging I got a bit excited during the first run and flipped the boat. I tried to claim a rogue wave, then wardrobe malfunction but it was plain to all, it was operator error. After the flip, all the Flight Captain and I could do was fall over in the mud laughing. Not so for the Shipwright. Having been intimately involved in the build of Baby Doll, all he could see was 100's of dollars of electronics getting drowned and took off at a sprint across the pond to retrieve the still revving, upside down boat. The flight Captain regained his composure shortly before me and luckily before the Shipwright retrieved the boat and reminded me to de-throttle the engine. It is well I did otherwise we might have had to add lacerations to the injury the Shipwright sustained during his retrieval dash - namely a corked thigh muscle and a pulled Achilles.

After a quick inspection for water damage, we set Baby Doll back on the lake for further sea trials. I must say she looked a beauty and finely balanced when sitting up on her planing surfaces at 10 knots. All went well until she determined to investigate more closely dry land on the other side of the lake and promptly settled there for a little rest. It was obvious that she was not going to find the water again with out assistance, as it was also obvious that a little walk would do the Shipwrights injuries the world of good. So as the assembled guests settled into afternoon tea of fresh baked sticky date scones and tea, the Shipwright made his way around the lake on his injury healing journey to set baby Doll free of her muddy shackles.

The rest of the day was thankfully incident and injury free.


Saturday: The stars, the moon, the sun and the planets, along with the wind and water conditions all aligned for me today and I got three PB's out on the lake windsurfing.
Top Speed 36.5 k; 5 x 10sec Average: 33.5k; Nautical Mile: 27.5l

A couple of days before Red and Jacques also had a great sail at Conawarree Lake scoring a bunch of PB's. Here are their results at GPS Tema Challenge site. http://gpsteamchallenge.com.au/sailor_session/show?date=2010-01-02&team=29


Sunday: Surf in the morning followed up by and abusive conversation with a fellow motorist who had parked her car in the middle of the road to make a phone call to her Mom. It appears momsie was involved in a car accident and needed to urgently talk to her daughter about it. I suggested that the likely cause of the accident was that momsie was likely on the phone at the time. In the afternoon I attempted to do 100klms on the windsurfer but fell way short. Anyway a hearty chuckle at someone elses expense always makes for a good day.

Monday: A promising weather forecast had Red and me up early for the 4 hour drive to Sandy Point for more windsurfing. It was magic sailing, but the wind was too far south for any descent speeds.