The Lizard Island Olympics of 2004........

TCP.... instigating Fun! I promised sailors that if they showed up at Lizard Island and started up an "OLYMPICS" as had been done in smaller scale in previous years, I would reward them with a custom made silver medalion of my own design and manufacture. (I'm a jeweller remember!) When the promised deliverer of the medalions blew it, something had to be done. Kay and I rushed to complete an issue of TCP and bolted in my old van, straight for Cooktown, the northern most accessable settlement on the coast. We were preparing to fly to Lizard via seaplane and camp if we had to but a last check in the harbour revealed friends, Chris and Judy on thier Simpson cat "Two Easy." I stuck out my thumb and we hitched a ride to Lizard! When we got there we a couple trying to tangle up the whole thing in politics and rules. I was about ready to say to hell with it but the crowd put a stop to the nonsense. They were there for fun and weren't gonna let the wowsers rule! The rest is cruiser history. It was always meant to be a one off. The moulds for the medallions have been destroyed. The only ones that exist in the world were the ones given away that October day in 2004.

Below is the report of the days events as written by (at the time) 9 year old Aimee-Rose of SY "La Passarola" The photos are in roughly the order of the events of the day and they will take some time to load. Patience please!

Use your computers "Back" button to return to the TCP home page.

 

by Aimee-Rose Burns, SV, “La Passarola”

As we dinghed ashore I could see lots of other people heading in to the beach too. I was with my mum Colleen, dad Les and my brothers Daniel and Jordan off the ketch La Passarola.

A few seconds later I turned around and saw a dinghy coming in with four people in it. They all wore bright tropical matching shirts and crazy matching clown hats. Straight away I could tell they were off the boat Court Jester.

Somewhere after nine o'clock the march-past began led by a Scotsman, Michael, playing the bagpipes. We even had a Lizard Island queen - it was my friend Sarah off Rebekah. People from all the boats joined in and lots of them were wearing teeshirts or hats with their boat names; one couple wrapped themselves in nylon netting, Kristin was dressed in bright orange long pants that looked as if they were made of towels. My family lifted me up on my surf-ski and I held a placard with La Passarola on it. I felt a bit silly, but everyone seemed to think it was good.

The games began with a sea-boot throwing competition and anyone could join in. I had a go and even four-year old Matthew from Quoll II tried throwing the boot twice. Some of the adults were showing off and it was just embarrassing to see! Bernie on Ailzark wore bright pink underpants with matching bra-top and Mark just hitched his undies right up! Thank goodness it wasn't my Dad! After that was the line-casting competition and lots of kids went in that too.

Some events were just for the grown-ups like the dinghy swim and mount and the men's water ballet (don't ask!!). I didn't see what happened but everyone kept telling me how funny and silly it was. But we had special events for the kids like the sand sculpture competition and a treasure hunt. For the sand sculpture all the kids chose a partner and then decided what to make and some of the ideas were great. We had several lizards, a dinghy and outboard, whales, turtles, fish, sand castles and so on. Matthew and I made a huge turtle with a starfish and fish beneath it. We came third in the competition.

The treasure hunt was organised by Donna from Imagine and Kristin on Rebakah and the clues looked as if they really were old treasure maps. We had to get past certain obstacles (like Trolls hiding under bridges and hangmen at 'Deadman's Pass'), by answering questions or riddles. Just like real pirates we had to dig in the sand for the treasure box. Too bad in all the excitement we half pulled the lid off and a lot of the lollies inside got covered in sand! But it was good fun anyway and it was worth the walk to get it.

There was also a triathalon relay and a lot of the kids were in that too. Events included swimming, kayaking and running. The surf-ski I was on wasn't my own and I found it hard to paddle, but it was all good fun anyway.

At the end of the Olympics Mark from Rebekah and Lyn on Alice handed out awards to the winners. First, second and third place getters had to stand on little plastic stools while Lyn hung medals of empty beer cans on a string around their necks and presented them with a branch of leaves. The music-man Keith from Chilli Magic organised music on the stereo as this was done. Matthew and I got third place in the sand sculpture but after getting our 'awards' Lyn had to take them back off us for the next lot of winners.

Bob and Kay from The Coastal Passage had made up beautiful little silver medallions of lizards and handed them out to everyone who competed. I put mine on a chain and will treasure it as a souvenir of the Lizard Island Olympics.

There's been lots of kids up at Lizard and with all the fun we've been having on the beach each day, the Olympics was still something really special and just what I hoped it would be.