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‘Why is your crew so happy? You came 5th!’

On 22 February, RSYS Caption Michael Lindsay stopped at our table in the CCA after the Thursday Twilight race to inform the crew of Beautiful Noise that we had come 5th out of 7 starters.

A day later, Michael called me and asked if I could explain why our crew was so happy and excited with the result. The best way to explain it, is to talk about the crew that night, Herr Dr Prof Link (first time on a yacht) and Faizan Arif from Pakistan (second time on a yacht). We had members of our normal crew on board including an old sailing friend from Uni days and RSYS member Phil Ipsen on the wheel, ex Uni of Queensland, 1st grade rugby player, and RSYS member Peter Dowling on the headsail, Richard Hughes (son of an old surfing mate) on the whisker pole and my partner and RSYS member Heather, a backseat sailor, providing unsolicited advice to the crew.

I explained to our German visitor Dr Link, that he was lucky in his first ever, sailing regatta (OK- there were only 7 starters, but he liked the idea of being in a regatta). We had a Goldilocks wind, and I gave him the most important job of all – looking after the beers in the cooler, appropriate for his expertise. Faizan from Pakistan was also on the headsail and generally just kept his head down.

We had an average start, caught up, fell back, mucked up some tacks but surprisingly, did not mess up the whisker poling of the headsail on the way back to Shark Island.

It was after all this, back at the CCA over some pizzas and Squadron red that the RSYS Captain gave us the news of our result. Was it because we had newbies on board, or our newly formed crew actually finished the race or because of the free-flowing red that we showed signs of excessive exuberance to Michael? I’m not sure but it could have just been the fun of being out there with good friends doing something we all love – sailing.
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