Last week we decided not to race, which was probably a pretty good decision. There was a strong wind warning for Sydney closed waters, we were short crewed and did not have experienced main sheet hand, While the wind was abating a bit there were still some white caps visible on the Parramatta River and in the area that we race in a fresh north easterly can be bit of a mongrel wind with viscous bullets and gusts falling off the land, at times some of these gusts can arrive unannounced without any associated pressure on the water surface. Ann and I sat on the Deck of Knowledge and watched the starts, drank a bit of wine, watched the finishes, listened to the stories of carnage then had dinner congratulating ourselves on a good decision. We weren’t the only ones to make that decision.

Last night was to be the last Twilight of the year, it is traditionally a big night, we had over 300 people booked for dinner. Unfortunately the weather gods did not play ball, the forecast was for a short sharp Southerly to hit at around 3:00 pm dump a bit of rain then (as is not uncommon in Sydney) abate to a cooler quieter dry evening. At around 5:30 pm the committee had to make a call and were influence by wind observations around the area, 32 knots gusting to 41 knots at Sydney Airport, normally a pretty good indicator of the wind will be in our racing area. There was also very heavy rain coming across in bursts with associated squall activity and some thunderstorms in the area. The incredible photos taken by Joanna Copeland up to the left and Simon Elliot to the lower right, probably illustrates one of the influences the committee’s decision. Almost as a consolation the weather gods were kind enough to put on an impressive light show.

Fortunately for a surprisingly large number of people that still turned up for dinner the weather did calm down to what was quite a balmy evening and a enjoyable Christmas party was had by all.

Thus far in the Summer Twilight series we have won one race, on scratch and handicap, did not compete in another and had the third abandoned, so with a drop of one race from the scores we are leading the series after three scheduled races, a bit of glory that I’m going to bask in until it inevitably ends.