Sunday the 6th of October 2024
The day began with sunshine and never looked like being anything less that that.
The Club was in fine form with the parking bulging at the seams as the sailors and VIPs made their way into the club proper. Newly minted Commodore Brian Cross and his wife Judi were welcoming guests at the northern entrance to the club while the sailors and volunteers were making their way into the ballroom where the ceremony was to begin.
Guests were invited to step into the ballroom and take their seats by Vice Commodore Amanda Watson and our patron and past commodore Colin Cowden led the move into the ballroom where a good number of sailors were already assembled. The official party was piped into the ballroom by the Club’s own piper and the guests were then asked be seated by Immediate Past Commodore Troy Dalglish, who then gave the Acknowledgment to Country.
IPC Troy then introduced Commodore Brian Cross to the members and Commodore Brian came up with an entertaining and brief speech in which he touched on the transition between the winter and summer seasons using a crayfish called Larry to help make the point and highlighted the luck of the club to have such a family commitment as the Dalglish father and son combination have offered.
The guest speaker for the day was introduced by IPC Troy. Club member and Olympian Conor Nicholas presented the Flags with their burgees and then spoke well, thanking his family, speaking of the friendship he had with his fellow Olympian Nia Jerwood as they have sailed through their respective careers. He spoke on the future of the club and sailing and finished with a comment to the youngsters sitting on the side of the ballroom, letting them know that they have the right and chance to be champions and Olympians if they wish to.
Rear Commodore Nikki Kukura broke the flag on the flagstaff; the cannon went pop and Opening Day was in full swing as the sailors trooped off to their boats and the guests made their way down to the fuelling jetty.
From then on, the sailing was in sparkling fashion with a comfortable sea breeze of no more than 15 knots and a very well represented fleet was seen on the water. It was also a pleasure to see the St Ayles skiffs out on the water as well and many thanks to Royal Freshwater Bay and East Fremantle for joining us on the day in the skiffs.
Congratulations to M Mclean and the crew of Finovola, who won the Keelboat Patrons Trophy in a fair and convincing manner, but the prize for the best dressed boat in the water had to be the whole SS27 fleet capped off by the mad cap antics of the crew of King Canute.
Many thanks to the power boat fleet who took the guests out on the water, to the club management and staff who ensured that the event ran smoothly and to the myriads of volunteers who worked to ensure that the club was ready on the day and ran the racing smoothly.
Richard Steuart for SoPYC
Photo Credits: Bernie Kaaks, Rick Steuart, Fiona Lyons and the SoPYC OWG Team.
