The Clayton 2003 Raft Regatta ... in search of the ... Sounds of Silence



Notification
The phone rang, it was Fred, he had contacted the caravan park at Clayton Bay and had found out the raft regatta was on. For me this last minute notification (of course I was rostered to work) meant a lot of scrambling & rearranging so I could come along and support this wonderful event.

If only the organisers had remembered to send our club an invitation, especially after we indicated we wanted to be a part of it. Life would have been a lot easier; we might have even found time to practise. Maybe more of our members might have been able to change their arrangements & attend.

Valentine’s Day
Departure day was Valentine’s Day and because Jane had to work on the weekend and couldn’t come along we celebrated during the morning, which lasted until about three in the afternoon. You all know how slow I am at packing. I arrived at about 4.30pm and set up camp and even though the weather report for the regatta was bleak our little area was pumped. We socialised, ate and had a drink or 2 ... maybe 4.

The Competition Begins
Saturday morning, it’s cool and overcast. When Fred arrived he announced that because of our lack of numbers he had contacted Tony and suggested not to bring the raft. But alas Tony had already packed it so it looked like we would have a raft without crews to use it. Gradually, as the day went on, a few more members arrived but unfortunately they didn’t bring the sun with them. After lunch I went for a walk to discover the town of Clayton. While doing so I bumped into Sandra and Carol who were also both doing the same.

During the next hour or so was born the idea of our red faces act "The sounds of silence". This was further improved when we returned to the camp & received input from the rest of the group. The afternoon’s competition was a team of two erecting a very skimpy sun shade, then to drag 2 inflated truck tubes out through the water, around a buoy, back to shore where the sun shade had to be pack up again.

Carol and Hannah were one of our teams and Tony and Shaun were our other. When times were compared the guys’ team was second fastest and in the finales. The final was very close, the opposition team initially gained an early lead with Tony and Shaun coming back strongly to just miss out on first place. It was a great effort by the guys!

Red Faces
During happy hour we had a 5 or 10 minute practise of our skit, with most of us taking about ½ hr trying in vain to convince Bill to be a part of it. We wanted him to come on stage, glare at the audience and say "this is #*#* stupid" and walk off. We were sure that with that effort we would improve our chances. Guess what! We competed without Bill & came second against teams that had been rehearsing for weeks & had costumes. Again the Wanderers determination shone through.

The Competition Continues
Sometime in the wee hours of Sunday morning I was woken either by the pitter - patter of the rain falling on my camper or the fact I needed one badly. I woke eventually to a bleak wet morning. By this time we had worked out that we had enough people to compete in some of the raft races. What a wonderful thought, racing in the cold water with the wind and rain belting down. At least we didn’t have blizzard conditions, well not yet. Ten o’clock, down to the waters edge and we have our first race. The ladies, Carol, Sandra, Hannah and Em, what a race, our team creamed them.

The Men’s’ Low Tech starts and the Wanderers team is to the blocks in the first race, Tony, Shaun, Cliff and JC. Sitting there waiting for the start we are being taunted by young 20 to 30 year olds from the Holden Club. The starter blew his horn and we were away, within a metre we were being buffeted by the taunter’s boat. We broke free of them and won, being the first team to go under a minute and that run ended up being the fastest of the morning getting us into the finals. In the kids event we posted the fastest time of any low tech race, including adults, how awesome was that? Both the men’s and women’s low tech finals were easily won by our teams along with the kids taking all before them it wasn’t to bad for the smallest competing club. By the way in the High Tech kids’ final Hannah and Shaun made up 3 of the 4 members of the Suzuki Club team. You guessed the Suzuki Club won the kids final. The trophies were presented, the raffle drawn, with Rob winning some canvas bags; we packed up and said our goodbyes then it was back to the quiet of the city.

A Scary Moment
Early morning and it was time to go to the toilet. While I was sitting there minding my business I heard someone say "Don’t flush unless you really have too!" Could they be talking to me? In shock I hastily finished what I had set out to do, to flush or not to flush was the question but what was the answer? My conscience got the better of me, there was no way I could leave that behind and so I flushed!

Reflection
Maybe with some prior notice next year we might practise and really sock it to them. Practise, wash my mouth out, that’s really a bit to serious perhaps we will do it the same again. Well done to all who came along and thanks for your company.


JC


From the President ...

The account about "The Scary Moment" does not go on to finish off that yes the toilets did get blocked, however quick action by the organisers and caretaker saved the day by making amenities available next door at the boat club and getting a "suck" truck out from Strathalbyn to empty the septic tank.

Disclaimer : please note