A really good figurehead for sailing.

From Dame Ellen MacArthur

From Dame Ellen MacArthur

Yes I sailed in the fleet with her as did Peter Hibberd while Judy had to be content to make her a cup of tea and chat with her while she drank it. I have only posted 2 of the 14 pics as the others which feature Dame Ellen also have children in the picture. Obviously I am extremely impressed by her sailing abilities but I was even more impressed by her as a person. She often ignored the folks trying to direct her around and spent time with the children. I was very taken by this aspect of Dame Ellen who started sailing at Pin Mill. Later when we all thought she had left Levington and were having a quiet cup of tea she returned and thanked us personally. What a Dame.
An after thought below;
http://www.accessclass.org.uk/imgs/202PDF_ACA(UK)_TT_2009_Final_Results.pdf
Judy and I came 4th in our class this year. This is our first year and we only managed 4 meetings but with a bit of luck we will improve next year especially if we can get a racing team together with some supporters to help loading and unloading when we travel. It is absolutely vital as every meeting we travelled to we had to leave our preparation to register or attend the briefing. Consequently our boat was put on the water and we were hurried off the pontoon before we could set up our boat. This usually meant we spent the first race setting up the boat while the competition was already set up and leaving us behind.