A volunteer’s view

Our two daughters and their families were in Europe. What would we do over Christmas and the New Year? Lyndell was the one who had the idea:

The Mirror Worlds are in Sydney. We could volunteer and catch up with our Mirror friends.

We hadn’t been Mirror sailing for years (ever since we couldn’t easily negotiate the boom and vang). Volunteering for the Mirror Worlds in Sydney was too good an opportunity to miss

We contacted Celia (she had shown us the way back to sailing) and said we would be available for the duration.

We sat with Celia and we worked out what we could do. We offered to work on registration and be on the Committee Boat. And there were extra things that were needed . Could we make a tally board, could we write numbers on placards?

That’s how it all started

So at eight thirty on Boxing Day we were in the Woollhara Sailing Club.

It took a while but we gradually sorted things out. Competitors were kind as they waited. Along the way we got to know them, so, later, we weren’t surprised to find that 45% were eligible for the family trophy in the Nationals (second only to the 55% for Veterans).

An evening’s effort, a night’s sleep and an early morning start put us in better shape the next day. At twelve noon we changed roles and attended the briefing for the practice race, and race 1 of the national titles.

Perhaps we couldn’t fully comprehend the comments in the briefing on cruise ships and ferries until we encountered them.

Lyndell worked on the ramp, recording comings and goings; I was time-keeping on the committee boat.