2019 PROGRESSIVE DINNER
Island Fiesta Progressive Dinner, Castle Lagoon,
The good weather gods shone favourably upon us this year, thank goodness! Coromandel arrived early at Castle Lagoon on the Thursday afternoon to claim the only location that would accommodate the 12 participating boats. Scallywag arrived early evening, followed by several boats throughout the day on Friday, ably assisted by Ken J and Rick Brown to reverse into their spot and take lines ashore. The remaining boats arrived on Saturday. It was impressive to see how well all boats either anchored or simply reversed into line, and as is usual, members were on hand each time a boat arrived to assist.
The smoky atmosphere from the bushfires was quite unpleasant on Saturday morning and took most of the day to clear. Bustling activity however was noticed on many of the boats, cleaning and decorating cockpits and saloons for the night's festivities. Solar lights festooned many of the boats, making it a pretty sight once darkness fell.
Most boats interpreted the Island theme as 'tropical', with a few out of the box who interpreted 'island' in their own way - Bucket of Vyno cleverly basing their theme on Ireland, and Sweet Love taking advantage of their Danish heritage, using the Danish islands as their theme. Perroquet and Blue Tattoo competed for the largest blow up tropical tree (Blue Tattoo won!). Other boats used their paraphernalia gathered from overseas sailing experiences, including Coromandel who had recently visited New Caledonia. Charles and Sue had a tough job judging the most creative interpretation of the Island Fiesta theme, and finally awarded the prize of a soft esky to Bjarne & Annette from Sweet Love.
Sundowners were served on the decks of Perroquet with spillover to the neighbouring boats. It was a colourful sight with most members attired in tropical dress, including plenty of leis. The merrymakers then departed to their allocated boats for entree, main course and dessert. Reports the next day were glowing about the delicious meals prepared by the chefs. It's amazing how well we eat from small galleys and limited equipment!
Sunday morning saw most boats departing, heading homeward. Coromandel, Perroquet, Silver Cloud and Bucket of Vyno were fortunate to stay another night, by which time all other boats had departed, so we had a mooring each for the night.
Boats attending: Coromandel, Scallywag, Perroquet, Bucket of Vyno, Another Storey, Pamela J, Silver Cloud, Sweet Love, Rendezvous, Viva la Vita, Blue Tattoo, Sabi Star.
