Songlines, Sans Souci and Supa Trooper were new arrivals who were later leaving the Gold Coast than us. AFRiCA (Another F&&cking Regatta I Can’t Afford) was already here and we'd already spent a couple of weeks here. 35 vessels were regularly in any anchorage we happened to be in. Songlines suggested a Progressive Dinghy Lunch. The Bloke and I were to organise it.
In essence, participating crews would each provide a course and everyone would remain in their dinghy. Crews provided their own refreshments, plates etc... We set the timer for 30 minutes at each boat and gave the crew of the next host boat a10 minute start to prepare. We made ‘plate of origin’ a theme in case anyone was stuck for inspiration. In any instance, dishes would largely be determined by what was still in ‘ship’s stores’. Some of us had not re-provisioned for a month!
The weather cooperated. There was excitement in the preparation of festivities. Supa Trooper were raising decorative flags. Nothing provokes The Bloke more than a flag showdown. He rapidly extracted our ‘Flag tub’ from the boot (the space behind our cabin and under the helm station). It’s a tight wriggle to get in there so it was a measure of the provocation. Up went the bunting etc... to settle the matter as to who would be the best dressed boat.
We began at the stern of AFRiCA. David informed us he only had cheese, dip and crackers left aboard and besides, he was without his partner and claimed poor culinary skills. Not withstanding, he too felt festive pumping out great music over our corner of the anchorage in anticipation of arrivals and dressed himself in a Superman outfit.
20 minutes later Carpe Ventum were sent off to prepare. Two vessels that had been invited to participate but elected instead to head north, missed out on a fun day.
Originally from South Africa, team Carpe Ventum great us with South African music and served savoury and sweet Pannekoek.
What a great day it was!
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