It's winter - and thirty degrees!
13/05/08 18:00 Filed in: May
For me it was an afternoon out on the committee boat
to oversee two races in the Snipe Class (they are a
double handed centreboard yacht about 15 feet long).
Each yacht had The starts were an evenly contested
affair, the sailors having a good sense of time and
an adult and a junior sailor, the adult helming the
first race and the junior the second. distance. The
first race consisted of one up wind leg of about 4
kms in a light breeze that occasionally saw the need
for hiking. The 15 yachts finished at a mark in the
centre of Lago Paranoa. (Lago Paranoa has a surface
area of 40 square kms with a depth of around 20m over
much of the area. It’s a hydro lake, one arm with a
dam and hydro-power generation).
From the water there’s a great view over to the city of Brasilia, tall buildings in the background, hotels, lavish sports clubs and houses around the shoreline and the president’s residence occupying one peninsular. Up to US $3.5 million is paid for the top end houses with all the facilities (water slides, gyms, entertainment areas, tennis court, wharf etc.) on the waters edge.
The committee boat was an older but well kept launch especially fitted with the necessaries for the job; a chilly bin full of bottles of iced cold water for the officials and sailors ranked high on the list, a radio to call up the three (50HP) support boats and of course plenty of flags and a horn to run the standard international start system. A professional photographer was on board too. The language was Portuguese, not a word of English today.
The finish of race one was tight with some fickled winds keeping the sailors alert. After a quick stop for drinking water and a skipper/crew rotation they were under the starters orders for a second time. Again upwind towards the dam, around the channel mark and all the way back down wind to the yacht club and the finishing line at around 5 pm. Hard work in the hot sunshine in Brasilia (it’s “winter” here and still close to 30 degrees during the day)!
Mother’s Day was celebrated in Brazil on Sunday and I was very kindly invited to a family get together. A very enjoyable affair, two hours of pre lunch nibbles (all sorts of meats and hot breads off the “BBQ” (Brazilian style) and drinks, followed by lunch proper and desert, finishing at 4.30pm. (There was no doubt that my hosts could do real justice to the hospitality at a regatta at Lake Ngaroto). It was then time for us rural people to drive the 150 kms back to the farm for another week’s work.
Ross Wrenn
From the water there’s a great view over to the city of Brasilia, tall buildings in the background, hotels, lavish sports clubs and houses around the shoreline and the president’s residence occupying one peninsular. Up to US $3.5 million is paid for the top end houses with all the facilities (water slides, gyms, entertainment areas, tennis court, wharf etc.) on the waters edge.
The committee boat was an older but well kept launch especially fitted with the necessaries for the job; a chilly bin full of bottles of iced cold water for the officials and sailors ranked high on the list, a radio to call up the three (50HP) support boats and of course plenty of flags and a horn to run the standard international start system. A professional photographer was on board too. The language was Portuguese, not a word of English today.
The finish of race one was tight with some fickled winds keeping the sailors alert. After a quick stop for drinking water and a skipper/crew rotation they were under the starters orders for a second time. Again upwind towards the dam, around the channel mark and all the way back down wind to the yacht club and the finishing line at around 5 pm. Hard work in the hot sunshine in Brasilia (it’s “winter” here and still close to 30 degrees during the day)!
Mother’s Day was celebrated in Brazil on Sunday and I was very kindly invited to a family get together. A very enjoyable affair, two hours of pre lunch nibbles (all sorts of meats and hot breads off the “BBQ” (Brazilian style) and drinks, followed by lunch proper and desert, finishing at 4.30pm. (There was no doubt that my hosts could do real justice to the hospitality at a regatta at Lake Ngaroto). It was then time for us rural people to drive the 150 kms back to the farm for another week’s work.
Ross Wrenn