Sunday, 25th July 2010
God! we were very slow in getting up, but the galley and saloon were shining, not a crumb to be seen, Aileen must have spent hours cleaning up the place when we got back to the boat, great stuff.
We, as in Skipper and Aileen, video skyped son Paul, his wife Christine, and our grandchildren Emily, Rachel, and Annabel, who are presently at Merry Meeting lake, New Hampshire, USA. Oh! modern technology is just fantastic! To be able to see the children a couple of thousand miles away in the space of a few seconds is mind boggling stuff, and almost free on WIFI at that....
11.30hrs Aileen and Skipper got a taxi into Mackay and checked out the Mass times, great stuff, there is a Mass at 18.00hrs this afternoon, we broused around for a while before returning to the Marina in time for the 16.00hrs talk by some of the local sailors on cruising the "Whit Sunday Islands". These Islands are very close to where we are located at present, and our intension is to visit them on our way north at the end of the week when Niall and Mary O'Rielly from Dublin arrive to join " A Lady " for the next month. With a bit of luck, the weather will heat up, and the sun will reappear.
18.30hrs We went to the Clarion Hotel for prize giving. A Lady won 1st prize in her class, beating the two Yanks in their Sundeer 60's. That certainly gave us a lift, and whats more, we received a bottle of wine for having no goods confiscated by customs on arrrival at Mackay. There were just 3 boats received this prize out of the whole fleet. The prize giving was followed by dinner, and then by more wine before returning to "Chessie" for yet more booze. This is Scotty's last night, so he spent the night saying goodbye to all and sundry. A drink with every hand shake and we were all shaky... actually polluted.
Skipper could not last the pace, and followed Aileen back to A Lady and crashed out. Scotty kept the flag flying and stayed to the bitter end. He is getting a train to Cairns at 02.00hrs tomorrow morning...
The end of the day!
Signed :- Stephen Hyde (Skipper)