The Last Sail

As reported in the Sailing Club Update, the water is now too low for sailing.

From today, sailing is suspended until the construction work has been completed and the reservoir has filled up again. For the last sail to take place, we needed enough people to recover the safety boat at the end of the afternoon.

After some time waiting around for people to arrive....

(not least, someone who had keys to the clubhouse), the decision was made to sail, despite the ominous presence of some blue-green algae on the water.

It wasn't easy to launch the safety boat...

because the mud at the waterline was so soft that the trolley wheels got stuck. To prevent this happening again, Peter and Cameron laid some netting on the ground to make a safe surface for launching.
Eventually, dinghies were launched and sailed.

It was an interesting sail as the newly steep sides of the pond had a strange effect on the wind. It was also very gusty as the weather changed from sunny-ish to rain. Cameron, Danny and Ray retired due to equipment failure. Aisha and Dick both fell in the water. This left Anne to win the final race of the season - congratulations!.

After sailing the safety boat was recovered and put away for the last time.

The 2006 sailing season at Doe Park is over.