IOM Mid Week Handicap

​There was plenty of action at the dam this morning even before the start.

A run-away pram went into the water with baby aboard. Many of our members were quick to render assistance and the baby, pram and equipment were quickly retrieved. An ambulance was called to check that both the baby and mother who was showing signs of shock were alright. Fortunately both seemed to be OK.

Tas Water officials gathered and had questions for us throughout the morning. Unfortunately for us they deemed the event a ‘major incident’ and decided to close the park so that an assessment could be made.

By the time that we were notified we had completed three races in shifty winds below 4 knots.  To their credit the Tas Water officials did allow us one final race and with a northerly filling in this was appreciated.

John Hall was today’s winner. With four races skippers can discard one – which left John counting three podium finishes. Ray Joyce took second place and Wayne Behrens third.

So again we are unsure whether Risdon Brook Park will be open to us next week – lets assume that it will be open and I will contact you if otherwise. This Sunday’s scratch sailing will be for IOM’s at Montrose.

Could all skippers who are attending the end of year BBQ and presentation at Montrose on Sunday week (19th December) please contact Kyle so that he can make catering arrangements.
 
John S

Addendum from Kyle

The club is extremely proud of the actions that the sailors took today with today's incident at the dam, in rendering assistance to the mother and baby. I have seen a post from the TasWater Facebook page that both are fine and are back at home, which is a real big relief.

However, from personal experience with high stress "incidents", we also need to turn inwards a bit and make sure we (as in all the people who were there at the dam today) are OK. Whether you rendered assistance personally or not, such events can and do (speaking from personal experience) manifest in the time afterwards where a person can struggle to cope with experiencing the stresses from the incident, or even just thnking about it afterwards.

If you are having any issue at all stemming from today, do not sit on it. Please seek help/assistance in the form of a chat with a place such as Lifeline (13 11 44), or your doctor. It is very important that we all look after our own wellbeing, especially after a stressful encounter.