Footy and sail training

Me acting as ballast with Catherine Dorman and her Helper Sheila Cars in the driving seat. I operate the sail controls and am on hand should Catherine "jump ship" unexpectedly. Normally these are two man boats but I am light enough to get away with this rather unorthodox set up.

Sailability boat designed by Alan Payne, 36kilo centreboard for safety and lots of fun.

Top photo shows the Bald Eagles A.F.L. in action at a recent "Veterans" football tournament. Thats me in Blue about to get clobbered by a teammate taking a "speccy" over the top.

In an effort to get fit and lose a bit of weight I decided to get involved with a sporting club here at Airlie. Started with the Soccer club but they proved to be very disorganised so I went over to the Aussie Rules club and was immediately welcomed and accepted despite my age. I have played in a few games with the seconds and participated in a "Oldies tournament" over the Easter Weekend. The games are shorter and the rules amended to protect the players a bit but the will to win was very evident with closely fought games and and we came second, losing by one goal and a few points. Lots of fun and a great group of "has beens" who turned up and played.

I have also been donating my time to "Sailability", taking disabled kids out sailing in specifically designed small boats. The boats are excellent and very safe and the kids have a ball and so do I. I also take schoolkids out during the week and on Sundays a gaggle of kids as well. The boats are all provided by the sailing club but skippers are a bit thin on the ground but I enjoy the sailing and get a great deal of satisfaction from the obvious delight of the kids. I have also been competing in the Sunday evening races in Laser class dinghy. It took a while to get a grip on the tecniques needed to successfully sail a Laser, I first sailed one on Sydney Harbour back in the 70's with Debbie, my first and last time on a Laser. My first couple of races were D.N.F. ( did not finish) but am becoming more competitive.