The Randell Raft up and Rally
The Sunday began with a bang or two as the spring squalls moved through the river in the morning and it was clear that the brave hearts were thinking very hard. But we already had a number of Randell owners who had made their way up or down the river and by mid afternoon a number of boats had arrived. With the Raft up put aside thanks to the stiff breezes still coming through, a number of boats elected to have pre dinner drinks on jetties seven and five with Len Randell taking the time to visit the arrivals and stop to have a chat to the owners and have photos taken with them.
The Monday was a much more interesting time with a lot more boats in evidence and close to a hundred people in attendance. The overnighters came out in force and were joined by a steady throng of new arrivals and interested parties who had come to see the boats and meet Len.
The event was sponsored by Heather and Graeme Monkhouse of “Boats on Line” who very generously covered most of the event. They were in attendance on the day and Heather was pleased to accept a bunch of flowers as a token of gratitude from the organisers. Great to see Crowbar, Troy and Clive come down to represent Management on the day.
There were lashings of food with the lads from the cruising and power sections in charge of the bacon and eggs on a brioche roll. Very tasty indeed. Along with that, there were plenty of pastries and other savoury goodies served by the horde of helpers on the day with the coffee machine almost in meltdown as the close to 100 guests ordered up big on the free coffees. Yours truly had some great assistance from sailing captain Vicki Blanckensee who jumped in to help when the list of orders began to get unwieldy.
A few brief words from Len around 11 am and then the rally part of the morning began with a sail past the start jetty with Len and his family taking the salute from the 20 or so vessels that poured past the start jetty. Everything from a Pelican called “Ogo Pogo” towed by mum and dad on a club rib; to a visiting Gemini from Freshy called “Solquest” followed by one of Lens original Karens, a pretty little motor sailor in very good nick.
On the parade of Randells went, with 32s up to possibly the largest at 55 feet (Warwick Gorman’s Mana) I was fortunate enough to jump onto Will Johnson’s very smartly turned out Casuarina II, for a quick trip out on the water and we went out past Addison before we had to return to drop a member of the party off, so I took advantage of the same and returned to shore as well while the rest of the fleet headed off into the distance before going their separate ways.
The day turned out very well and it was a lovely finish to the morning. Hopefully we can do this again with slightly better weather. Many thanks to Amanda Watson and Garry Morrison who spearheaded the event and thanks to all the volunteers who helped on the day. Of course we can’t go past thanking the Randell people who attended from as far away as Albany, coming down from Hillarys and all the river clubs.
Rick Steuart. Photographer / Barista
Photos linked here- Randell Raft-up and Rally – Rick Steuart – Sailing Photographer (weebly.com)
