Puddleduck end of year BBQ and social sail.

[Admiral]

It was agreed that the last sailing day of the year should be a “bring anything that floats and sails day”. This novel outing was to be followed by a BBQ lunch.

Unfortunately the weather gods were left off the guest list and for this oversight extracted instant karma with a well timed downpour or two….

As duck luck would have it the worst didn’t start until we had put the boats away and we’re ready to fire up the Barbie.

Many of our Merry Men brought wildly varying boats of all shapes and sizes.

Peter’s classic 10 Rater KAOS was a beautiful sight gliding up and down the pond dwarfing the 65’s and 95’s.

A real treat was Gerald’s beautiful proportioned Herreshoff ketch and Ricky’s gorgeous scale model of King George the 5th’s HMY Britannia. Both boats were beautifully finished and highly detailed.

Following our fun social sail we packed up for a BBQ beneath umbrellas.

With discussion underway following lunch a few interesting facts about our little group came to light. Overall membership is up by 35% over last year with the greatest increases among the sailing group.

There is more RG65’s sailing with the DF65’s now than ever and more are planned to be added soon. This seems to work well under the levelling influence of our handicap system and by the same token it has been suggested to also open our DF95 days up to IOM’s as well.

This year the DF65 enjoyed a total of 19 days, while the DF95 had a total of 13 over the past 12 months. We have mostly been blessed with good sailing conditions and certainly with a great sailing venue.

The first date for the return of sailing at Puddleduck will be Tuesday January 5th. As our last races this year were with DF95’s so the first for 2021 will be in DF65’s.

Our one major annual event, the Peter Smith Memorial is on again next year. This will once again be a one day event held exclusively for DF65’s and is marked in the calendar for Saturday 6th of March.

It has been an amazing year and we wish all the Merry Men and their families a Happy, safe, Christmas and New Year.

Thank you everyone for contributing and being a part of our unique little group and making it so much fun.

The Admiral and I look forward to sailing with you all again very soon.

[Admiral]

Here’s a few more ….

[Sinker]

A different day at the duck, Merry Christmas all.

This is a video of the real Albacore

[Ricky]

Another great year at Puddleduck.A safe and Merry Christmas everyone.

 

[Kermit]

[Former Members]

Sorry couldn’t make it today I was a bit crook hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas I will see you all in the new year

[Admiral]

Bugga, get well and we’ll see you next year!

[Predator]

My videos from today are now posted.

Attached to Col’s original post.

Merry Christmas & a Happy 2021 to all.

Mike

[Admiral]

Great job everyone! The videos are outstanding and superbly capture the fun of our day. A wonderful record of a pretty special time.
Stay healthy and I’ll catch you all next year!

[Pete]

Who would have thought that we would ever see a Royal Yacht sailing on the Duck. It was a very special sight. Thank you Ricky, Gerald, Peter and Mike for bringing a touch of class to a venue normally plagued by plastic wannabe yachts.

Really enjoyed seeing the different yachts and reckon we could have some fun races with the mixed fleet. The handicaps may be a bit interesting.

Thank you all for a great day and thank you to our generous hosts. I hope you have a great Christmas break and look forward to resuming early in the new year.

Stay safe.

[Author]

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