*EARLY 1960s SYDNEY HOBART YACHT RACE - UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

                    S.S. SOUTH STEYNE

In happier times the largest of the Manly Ferries- S.S.South Steyne used to join the fleet of small craft following the Sydney - Hobart Yacht Race fleet each Boxing Day , 26th December annually, as the great yachts raced out of Sydney Harbour, through the Heads and out to sea heading South.

On one of those occasions in the early 1960s, with my best friend and now my brother-in -law Tony Hannon, I paid for my ticket and off we went on a brilliant Summer day.It is hard to describe the sheer spectacle and excitement of those occasions, the most amazing harbour in the world, many hundreds of small craft, and at the centre of it all the great yachts . They vary in size and achievement,but handicapping ensures a wide area of interest across the field.

Our trusty South Steyne had no trouble making her way through the hundreds of small craft and, a little way to the South outside the Heads she hove to, allowing us to watch the passing parade. I had with me my PENTAX SLR Camera - very modern and moderately expensive, slung around my neck on its leather strap.I was wearing my Aviator style dark glasses- I preferred to think of them as General MacArthur glasses - but to take a photo, I whipped them off and stuck them in my shirt pocket. To get a better look to the South -following the leaders I leant out and, as I did- following the laws of nature- the straps of the camera moved outward. Unhappily , in the process, they pulled my sunglasses out of my pocket and flicked them into the sea !! Instinctively, I reached out in a futile effort to retrieve them, only to see them zig-zag downwards through the first few feet of relatively clear water. As I did so, the opened leather camera case lid caught on the buckle of my belt causing it to ride up. This caused the figure of eight shaped hole that held the case's metal retaining stud to move up to the larger hole , detached the cover and it too fell into the water and, because of its lighter , hollowed construction it floated mockingly in front of me, slowly filling with slurps of sea water.! Further instinctive moves toward retrieving it, were checked when I became conscious of a quaking of suppressed laughter all about me - quickly strangled for a time whenever I eye-balled any of the guilty parties. When I turned to Tony Hannon and saw he was having the greatest struggle of all, I at last began to appreciate the humour of the situation.

BEGAN to appreciate........I'm still working on the problem!