Heat 6 Championship

                              It was Championship ....and sailing was on... gale force winds....

                                                                             or not.....


                    and while it was certainly a different day weatherwise, 0- 5 knots was the reality,

                                                and the sky offerred up an arrray of variations ...


                                                       The start crew were on deck early...

                                              after all .. they had to set out the cheese and bikkies..

The big boats...all four  .. set off into a mysterious fog...

                                         .. it was looking like a wet and drizzly afternoon ahead..

Lynne was sharing her expertise..

                                    Dannon had Jordy and Trevor to stick a wocket up the pocket...

...it was a bit of a drift but it kept the fleet together ..

                                                        
                                      Carli was foredecky... while Ray thought tactics.. or so he said..

David and Damo were hopeful..

                                                                   
                                                        .. the little cat was braving the conditions..

                                  Damien was wearing a "set for the Antarctic look"..

                                                          ( very fashionable this year...)

The little boats headed towards the grey mists....

                                           
                                                              barely a channel marker able to be sighted...

                         
                                                      Scott was in 'lone sailor' mode..

                                                                
                                            there were bigger ships to argue with...

                                                       
                                    .. on the Red Rib we were having no trouble 'keeping up'                     

                          .. and since we were getting wet and " just because we were curious..."

we went for a little excursion...

                                                               Yes.. we were bird watching ....

             
                                the environmentalist (?)  got into the act.. cleaning up the harbour ..

Captain Dirk kept the craft under control in the testing conditions..

                                              I kept amused playing with macro  etc...

                                                        Ray kept trying to fly a kite.. Carli actually did the work...

                                       
                                                       storm clouds brewed overhead..

                          
                                          gosh.... those pumpkin sails are good..........

        
             David and Damien clocked their fastest speed for the day.. unfortunately not a PB

 
                                              Maria was finding it easier to do a standing start..         

                                             Scott started to sneak up on the Cherub...

                                                           It was all very exciting ..

so.. orange and grey DO work...

and then we looked behind us and we saw...

thunder and rainbows... and weird light ..

 then blue skies ..

and rainbows...

                                                    and a spinnaker in the distance..

and all of a sudden ... it was a beautiful blue autumn day..

                                                             as the Doc ordered up some wind ...

followed by the pocket rocket..

                                                       Solitaire  not far behind.. steering a course to fill a kite..

                          and finally Thylacine, doing pretty well to keep up to all those flighty sports boats..

with Skipper Mike and crew..

                                                         ..... bringing to a close another day on the water...

Sail on! Sail On ! Sail On!