For ex-Canberra sailors

Nice shot Brian. Thx

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Bristol said...
@ Ian, Jase, Akim, Alex, Anna, Trousers . . .





Almost an Easterly, late Tuesday. Here's Pete, wringing the most out of his new JP Slalom board.

Happy days. Happy memories.

Cheers

Brian

Memories? Must be a while I've forgotten the number of the airport AWS. But I do remember you wanted at least 2 hectopascals on Braidwood at 3 pm. Everyone rigged up on the bank , 5 knots from the west. Akim watching seagulls , announcing he's going 5.4. Raz given up and gone home.
Is Scotty coming down with beer?

Thanks Brian, Yes miss the Canberra easterlies, nothing like it anywhere else in windsurfing world.

You've nailed it with the essence that is a Lake Burley Griffin easterly session. It's the camaraderie, the common purpose, the anticipation, the actual physical and mental challenge of the blow, and the joyous and smug aftermath.

When Jase was setting up his "Canberra Windsurfers" website, I started on a parody of "The Man from Snowy River", with the intention of contributing it to his site. Shameless plagiarism of Paterson's great work. It started like this :-


There was movement at Blue Gum Point, for the word had passed around, that the Easterly would likely blow that day,

It was due at six or seven, and at maybe twenty knots, so all the cracks had gathered to the fray.

All the tried and noted sailors, from Canberra's suburbs near and far, had mustered at the Point that afternoon,


And were rigging, in anticipation, for a full-on sailing session. They knew the wind was gonna come "real soon".




And so it went. It didn't get any better.

I tried working the personalities from the original into this tripe. "Harrison, the old man with his hair as white as snow" could only be yours truly. Clancy - "No better horseman ever held the reins" would be my mentor, "no better sailor ever held a boom".

"And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast" would become "And one was there, a stripling on a small wave-sailing board", which could only equate to Akim.

And, indeed, it's "Clancy" and "the stripling" that show everybody how it's done, both in the original poem and on the lake.

Happy days, indeed!

Yeah, those Easterlies were (and hopefully still are) some great summer sailing.

I have very fond memories as we're all rigged and waiting on the foreshore, when suddenly the flag on Rydges would start snapping and swing easterly. Looking down towards the eatern basin you'd see a dark wind line approaching and we'd all be scrambling into the water like it was the start of the Lancelin. Some enterprising souls would have glugged upwind just to be there in the golden few moments it comes on and ride it downwind towards the rigging area.

And then you'd sail until sundown (and on a few memorial occassions, well past).

Mecurial, and such commaderie - just good people bond over their love of sailing. You should know that not all windsurfing communities are like that; you got it real good there. I come over occassionaly for work, and I still have one eye on that Rydges flag. I miss sailing and hanging with you guys, and only two days ago I was telling my own locals some sailing stories from my Canberra days.

Hope you get plent of Easterlies this season.

can't remember the last time i saw a sailboard in Canberra times;

www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6058139/canberra-sweats-through-hottest-day-of-the-year-so-far/