Easter Yacht Racing

Greetings,

Every Easter Friday, the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club holds a 300 nautical mile race between Brisbane and Gladstone and it's been a family tradition that we stroll down to the beach to watch the fleet sail past. Well, to be honest, this will only be the third year we've done this ... but we like to imagine ourselves tottering down with our great-grandchildren many moons from now. 

It's a lovely relaxing way to spend the day - people start arriving from around 6 am, getting the best 'possies' and setting up all the gear that's necessary for a day in the sun: umbrellas, cricket stumps, totem tennis, blankets on the grass, deck chairs, wind igloos, sun shades, folding tables, portable barbies and eskies. Then the kids can swim, ride their horrid little mini-scooters and generally let off steam while the grown-ups sit around and chat. Very civilised!

We know very little about yachts, cruising or otherwise, except that they're lovely to look at when they're sailing across a blue expanse of water on a beautiful autumn weekend. They're especially impressive when they put out those big, puffy sails (yes, I do at least know that they're called spinnakers) - which they do when they get out near Moreton Island. (For those who do know the pointy end from the blunt end, these are some of the boats that compete in the race.)

Since it is Easter break for many this weekend, why not try your hand at a bit of creative writing? It's great fun and very therapeutic. Don't worry if you've never done any "real" writing before (writing for work doesn't count as "real!") - the best way to learn, is to simply "do." Here are a few tips to get you started.  

Gunter Gerdenitsch said he was recently searching for words that would give a vivid image of "speaking negatively". He found "brusque," "morose," "rude," "coarse," "grumpy" and "cross." Gunter suggested this would be a good little exercise for everyone, so here we go!

See if you can come up with 5-6 words for each of the following situations:

1. gasping for breath

2. shivering from the cold

3. quaking with fear

4. laughing with relief

5. sobbing with dismay

And then, if you're feeling up to it - put these bits together to make a short piece of writing (no more than 200 words). Swap the order around to suit yourself, add bits if you want, but you must include all five of the listed "ingredients." It doesn't have to be fiction - just let the Muse be with you.

A university creative writing class was asked to write a concise essay containing these four elements:

- religion
- royalty
- sex
- mystery

The best essay read:

"My God," said the Queen. "I'm pregnant. I wonder who did it?"

Definitely concise ... if nothing else!

This week's quiz:

Match each word with its definition:

obstreperous contumacious mettlesome cadge pith supine remonstrate inveigh precepts impute

rules establishing standards of conduct noisy, loud heart of the matter, basic trait. Also force, strength to attribute to a cause or source, ascribe insubordinate, rebellious to attack verbally, denounce, deprecate courageous, high-spirited lying on the back. Also slow to act, passive to beg, to get by begging to protest, object

This is a little story for you from Steele Rudd's classic Dad and Dave series (for a bit of background on Steel Rudd) - it should be read in a slow Aussie drawl for best effect:

Dave decided to take Mabel to the Snake Gully cafe for lunch. Dave looked at the menu and said, "They've got sheep tongues on the menu, Mabel. I think I'll have that. What about you?" 

Mabel said, "No, Dave, I couldn't eat anything that came out of an animal's mouth." 

"What would you like then, Mabel?" said Dave. 

Mabel said, "I think I'll have an egg."

Chuckle ...

Another site that I'm only mentioning because it's a long weekend and there's time to waste ...  Type in a phrase and you'll get hundreds of anagrams - great fun! (Note: you'll get lots of gibberish as well as the gems - but then all good things are worth the effort.)

Here are some beauties: 

A Telephone Girl = Repeating "Hello"

Evangelist = Evil's Agent

Astronomers = Moon starers / No more stars

The Cockroach = Cook, Catch Her

Desperation = A Rope Ends It

The Morse Code = Here Come Dots

And my favourite ...

The Check is in the Mail = Claim "Heck, I sent it (heh)"

Privacy Policy.