Anyway, I have come to this conclusion that we are living in Lucky Land right now, based totally on my digital joke-feed. I have a number of secret suppliers of the funnies you see regularly in this missive and, while one is UK-born, the other is a dinky-di born-here Aussie, yet both are supplying me with their latest jokes, puns and cartoons, all clearly harvested via the internet from the UK and the USA. How can I tell? Because all the jokes are about being in lockdown and surviving (or not) Covid-19, which, from where we stand, is just so yesterday. And I’m over it. So no silly cartoons this week.

But it did get me thinking that it’s good to be out of lockdown, able to go sailing and to form a beer circle, get a bit too close to our mates at times and survive, even shake hands with old friends, mainly because the virus isn’t here right now. Which returns me to the title song, that we are luckier than the Poms and the Yanks and the Victorians in that we have been able to repel the viral invasion so far, for a range of reasons, and we should remember that and keep making our own luck by continuing to abide by the rules and the current wisdom that says to stay spaced out and to wash your hands. It’s not actually a big price to pay and it sure beats being locked up or locked down because the virus has come back to WA in the backpack of a Covidiot. You do want to keep sailing don’t you?

Thursday 17 September 2020: IOM and DF 95 Club Handicap Racing, at Jackadder Lake, from 2.00 pm. Weather: Partly Cloudy, Max 21, Winds southeasterly 20 to 30 km/h tending easterly in the morning then decreasing to 15 to 20 km/h in the early afternoon.

Saturday 19 September 2020: Michael Bell 10R Memorial Trophy (and Heat 4 of the Club Championship), at Jackadder Lake, from 9.30 am. Weather: Showers, Max 19, Cloudy. Very high (90%) chance of showers, most likely in the morning and afternoon. Light winds becoming northwest to southwesterly 20 to 30 km/h during the morning then becoming southwesterly 25 to 35 km/h during the day.

And

Saturday 19 September 2020: IOM Club Racing  at Jackadder Lake, from 2.00 pm. Weather: Showers, Max 19, Cloudy. Very high (90%) chance of showers, most likely in the morning and afternoon. Light winds becoming northwest to southwesterly 20 to 30 km/h during the morning then becoming southwesterly 25 to 35 km/h during the day. IOMs will be the secondary fleet to the Ten Raters.

Sailors should take note of the possibility, based on lake conditions in the morning, that the day’s sailing may be off the southern shore and car park, if it looks like there will be a significant period of time where the winds are out of the north and west.

Ten Rater sailors are encouraged to enter online for the Michael Bell Trophy so that we can have a good fleet on the water on the day – maybe if you have a Ten Rater but are unable to enter, you might offer it to another sailor?

And in case you’re thinking that I’m not mentioning my southern sojourn to the DF95 State Championships because I didn’t do very well, well, that would be churlish of both of us. I just hadn’t got to it yet.

Andy Grist of Albany demonstrated why he is the current DF 95 National Champion by absolutely blitzing the rest of us over two days, in a full range of conditions at the new Albany Lake. He was streets ahead and the next five sailors were tightly bunched fighting out the rest of the podium. Congratulations to Adam Viney of Wanderers on 2nd and Geoff Oliver of Albany on his 3rd. I learned many lessons over the weekend and unfortunately they were lessons I thought I’d learned before. But at least I didn’t park the boat in the fountain, as I did two weeks ago. This time I just bounced off it. J

I Should Be So Lucky …

Or maybe I should concentrate on being spaced out more often?

Cheers
Bruce