This pattern is dedicated to Barry and Joy!
This post is simply to write about the dedication on this pattern.
Barry and Joy were my mother-in-law and father-in-law. Both were heavily involved in the local sailing/yacht club. Barry spent many years as Commodore and Joy ran the race day staff, acting as race secretary.
They passed this love of sailing onto their three son’s. I married the youngest!
Barry raced a Sabre (dingy) most weekends and my now husband raced in his 125 dingy that he had built himself. The Sabre was a one man boat and the 125 had a crew. The first Easter long weekend that I was dating my now husband, he found himself without a crew to race the Easter weekend races. I was recruited. I had never been even on a sailing boat before and had no idea what I was doing. The day had a very brisk 10 to 15 knot wind and I was shoved into a Trapeze harness and connected to a self tacking wire and we headed off to race. My husband told me how I was meant to exit the boat and hang on the wire. I did exactly as I was told and with the brisk wind I had to spring over the side and keep my feet on the gunwale and my body as horizontal as possible, to keep the dingy level. We did okay that race day and I think that was the day I first made really good friends with my future mother-in-law.
She told me I was a natural on the trapeze. I didn’t bother to tell her that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing so did exactly as her son told me to. We went on to race many, many weekends, with Barry many times running the race days (when not competing himself) and Joy keeping a watchful eye over us from either the race tower or one of the patrol boats. We did this until our family grew too large for us to be able to do so. My last race series I was 16 weeks pregnant with our second child and I know my mother-in-law was nervous the whole series watching us race in heavy winds with me out on the trap wire.
Barry and Joy loved sailing and it was part of their lives. So I thought it fitting to dedicate this blanket to them!