Sailing on Lake Illawarra

[khiemtran]

Saturday morning, and I'm out on Lake Illawarra with a good friend.



It's a nice, placid day on the water. As you can see, your humble correspondent hasn't had a shave yet after his run.



Though the winds were light, the sky was spectacular. No sooner had we set off, then we saw this halo overhead. [Edit: Or was it a corona?] Unfortunately, the camera angle doesn't really do it justice. I had the waterproof camera (for obvious reasons) and I couldn't zoom out wide enough to add any sense of scale. It was a magical moment to clip along with this great circle above us.



Also out on the water were these SailAbility boats - specially designed for the mobility impaired.



Here's a close-up look when we went over after our sail. As you can see, there's easy access seating, with no stays or shrouds; a nice high boom so no-one gets hit in the head; and both the tiller and mainsheet can be controlled from inside the cockpit. There's also a weighted keel underneath, to make sure they can't capsize.



Here's an earlier shot when we were setting out. The kids (and adults) seemed to be having a ball and the boats were moving quite nicely in the light breeze.



Another great day on the water!

Comments

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

At my friend's sailing club, they have one very large boat which allows complete non-sailors to be taken out safely onto the water, and a number of trimarans, for the 'not capsizing' option. In the UK, there seems to be a fair amount of sailability racing.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I think it's an excellent idea. The kids in those boats seemed to having a great time.