Presentation to Fremantle Sailing Club

Cruising Section Topic Night
A Circumnavigation After Retirement By Robert Morales
Thursday 17 October 2013 at 7.30 - 9pm in the Wardroom
Dinner: Please join the FSC Cruising Section for dinner in the Galley from 1800. Bookings are appreciated by the Restaurant Staff 9435 8800.

The presentation evening went very well.

I met Kim Klaka, head of the Cruising Section at 5.30 PM and he was very helpful assisting me in setting up my laptop in the presentation room.  Once we were sure that the projection and sound were working OK we returned downstairs to the dining room for the traditional pre-presentation dinner of the members of the cruising section.  Brenda, Coral and I were seated with Kim and his wife Annette  on one side and Jim and Margaret Putt on the other.  It was great to see Margaret again, for the first time since my departure in 2008.  Dinner for Brenda and myself was generously provided by the Cruising Section, which I appreciated very much.
 
For my talk I was honoured by the presence of Bob Kucera, the commodore of the club, and was surprised see old friends.  Victor had driven down from Kalaroo, Bob and Jean Porter had driven from Darlington, and one of the men who had accompanied me on my sea trial of Pachuca had driven all  of the way from Dwellingup on just a few hours' notice.

Kim introducing Robert

Robert Showing Video

I was allowed a full 90 minutes for the delivery, and that extra 30 minutes over the time allocated to me at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival allowed me to proceed at a more relaxed pace. 

After the presentation Kim presented me with a gift of two beautiful drinks glasses with the FSC on the sides.  These solid impact resistant glasses will be part of Pachuca's inventory for special occasions.

One of the highlights of the evening for me was meeting Sue and John Rogers.  John had helped with the building of Pachuca in 1983 and I was hoping to keep in touch with him and learn as much of the history of the boat as possible.  Better yet, he told me that Frank, the mining engineer who had Pachuca built is returning to Perth from New Zealand and I am very much looking forward to having a few sessions (and perhaps sails) with him.  John, by the way, confirmed that Frank had invented a device for extracting gold without the use of arsenic and that the name "Pachuca" was probably related to the city of Pachuca in Mexico.

On the Board

I discovered today that the Fremantle Sailing Club put my name on the list of the club's world circumnavigators without any fanfare.

Fanfare or not, for me it was an ambition realized.  I like to think that long after my time the names of myself and my boat will still be on that board.  I feel humbled to share the space with the incomparable Jon Sanders and friends Jim and Margaret Putt, the epitome of cruising couples.