Championships

[Ewan Campbell]

The Adelaide Nationals certainly was a series I won’t forget in a hurry. Gate starts were something I had never heard of, Sue kindly explained how they worked, I was a bit slow to understand them at first, but after a couple of races I got the hang of them, I now think that they are a great idea for big fleets. The very light conditions were a bit frustrating at times, I felt sorry for those who got within metres of the finish line only to find they had run out of time – “a lot of work for no result”. Then there was the day we had “wind” which I usually like, but alas “yours truly” capsises on the way out to the start (my very first capsise in the pink boat 😳 ), I was very grateful for the offers of help from many of my fellow sailors, a big “THANK YOU” to Wayne & Daniel who assisted me and made it possible for me to get to the start in time. Can’t believe after starting the race my boom breaks and I end up in the water, my boat sails away and I am bobbing up and down with no-one around, then all of a sudden Graham appears from nowhere and lets me hold onto his boat till help comes, he then continues on with his race, “GRAHAM YOU ROCK” thanks so much for helping me. Thank you to the rescue boats for picking me up and towing my boat in and the tractor driver for bringing my boat back safely to me. More help was given to me on shore with one chap (sorry can’t remember your name) offering to pick up a boom section for me as he was going to pick up a part he needed, then ROBIN HASELGROVE took the section home plus my broken boom and refitted it for me, I am so grateful Robin, thank you very much for making it possibe for me to complete the series.

There’s always complaints at Nationals about various things, not everything runs according to plan and not everyone is in agreeance with decisions that are made, there will be mistakes made which everyone will learn from, at the end of the day they are all volunteers doing their best.

My greatest memory of the Adelaide Nationals will be the help and generosity I received during the series as well as the friendship of fellow sailors and their families.

Go-anna 1701

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