Sailing

Melissa Yeomans

Animus is actually sailing!

Who’s turn will it be this year? We will have to wait and see. After all you have to be in it to win it!

Two years ago Animus missed the Adams 10m Nationals due to a broken mast, this year it looked like we would miss out again. Animus has not sailed this season due to work commitments and doing the Nationals just went into the too hard basket. With no regular crew and some maintenance required there was a lot to do. This is when Live Sail Die stepped in and asked what it would take to make sure we made it to the Adams 10m Nationals at Lake Macquarie.

After calling one of my regulars Tom Freeman who has sailed with me since the Flying Eleven days we decided to give it a go at putting a team together. He made a few calls and managed to get a mate of his who he sails Farr40’s with as well as match racing in the youth fleets. Dave Chapman was in which makes three.

It was then that I called Big Dave Nelson. Dave was part of the winning crew back in 2002 when Animus was known as SSV under the ownership of the White family. I was part of the crew then along with my father Phil Yeomans and Dave has sailed with us on many occasions since.

My good friend and Two-handed partner in crime Kate Cooper was in “if we really needed her” even though she should be finding a new place to live. I did try and now with just 5 days to go Kate is definitely in.

This is where the internet came into play with Facebook and 12′ skiff sailor Brad Greenrod saw that I was putting a team together and sent me a message that he was interested. We now have a crew!

Next step was to get Animus up to Lake Macquarie and looking at Seabreeze a week delivery would have been very wet bashing into strong Noreasters. So Sunday morning with the help of my father and our shorecrew (Mum) Animus arrived at the lake. It was a very long motor without much breeze. I managed to take just a couple of photos during the trip. If you have never been into the Lake check out the the video on the Adams 10m Website. I did not take any photos or video going up the channel this time around as we were warned by the Coast Guard twice that several boats had to be pulled through the day before. In fact they had already had three that morning and whilst we were going through a smaller boat along side was not paying enough attention and ran aground. It is only about 1.2 to 1.4 metres deep in parts at high tide so it is a bit of an experience to say the least when your draft is 1.8m. Let alone the rushing tide through such a small channel.

So Animus is now at LMYC ready to compete in another Nationals. This is something I have done since I was a kid as my Uncle and Father have sailed the 10’s my whole life and now I do. It is always remarkably close racing with as many as half the fleet a good chance when they are having their good day. Ben Nossiter after roughly 20 years of trying finally claimed victory at last years titles. Animus is out defend our title, the ‘Pat Carroll Memorial Trophy’ for the first placed timber seat yacht. However as we have proven in the last 10 years just because we have timber seats does not mean we won’t be up there at the front of the fleet.

Who’s turn will it be this year? We will have to wait and see. After all you have to be in it to win it!

Melissa Yeomans

Weekend on Animus

It was a great weekend even though we managed to blow up a block on Saturday which resulted in us doing a leg and a half under Mainsail only. Sunday was a girls day out with just the four of us enjoying a lovely warm day.

It was a lovely weekend with lots of wind on Saturday and next to no breeze on the Sunday. Here are a couple of pictures taken by Sam from Animus after we ended up cruising around the course on Saturday and then in the light breeze on Sunday.

Photos

Melissa Yeomans

Mikasa Women’s Challenge 2007

Competing in the Ladies Day Race this year seemed to raise a few questions from other competitors. Hopefully this is a little insight into our day onboard Estate Master.

MYC Ladies Day is a great way to celebrate your birthday, I have found over the last four years. Always wanting to challenge myself I once again decided not to do the race on my own boat Animus so spoke to Lisa Hill about joining forces again. This would be a new challenge as Lisa and Martin had just purchased the new Farr 40 Estate Master. The reason for competing in these races is to challenge not just myself but also other women sailors. It is an opportunity to sail a boat I would not get the chance to sail otherwise. The opportunity to prove that we can do any position and take the boat out without the guys is important. One day hopefully we will see the results of these races with more women racing competitively as they get the opportunity to learn at these events. And maybe, just maybe I will tell stories of the days when Guys use to avoid me on the race course or at mark rounding’s as soon as they see who is steering and how many females are onboard Animus. Admittedly this is starting to happen less and less so maybe it is just around the corner.

With one week to go we were looking pretty good with a few of our regular Ladies Day crew coming together. Unfortunately this was not to be so the stress set in of finding 12 crew. I was lucky to have the support of several of my Animus crew. They include:  Marlene Barry has sailed with me on and off for around a year. Initially in Pit but just recently taking on more responsibility and learning trim. With a long way to go she knew she would have a big challenge ahead of her onboard Estate Master with lots to learn. Tais Froggatt I had met two weeks earlier. So enthusiastic it was contagious as she quickly stepped into Pit doing everything we told her. New to the sport she had a lot to learn in such little time. Lorna Jackson who has done a 24hour race onboard Animus jumped at the chance to join us in trim. Having spent most of her time on bow it was time to challenge herself and fast. Even though we knew each other she had done more miles offshore with my father than with me.  Sam Phillis who recently moved to Sydney and started sailing on Animus about a month ago had done some cruising but has been thrown in the deep end onboard Animus. As it was my Birthday we were also aiming to have some fun. So stepping into Mainsheet was my two handed partner in crime Kate Cooper. A skiff sailor who has been sailing Animus when she can. Her strength was exactly what we needed and I knew she would handle the situation as well as sitting next to me. Kate is aware of exactly how much pressure I put on myself having been a part of the Women’s team I took to Melbourne last year. As Sam and I talked through the possible crew on many occasions we decided to ask Anja who she worked with. Anja Thomson had sailed Farr 40’s before and currently sails Etchells. Her addition to the crew would prove crucial in the lead up to the race as we lost several of our main crew members from past Ladies Days. Three weeks before the race I attended a friends Birthday Party where I met Kate Downing. Kate had sailed Farr 40’s and would become our new Bowchick.

With the crew getting closer to being finalized Anja and I spoke about who would be best to stand behind me and direct the entire show so I could concentrate as much as possible on steering. There was only one choice and it was Nicky Souter. As much as we all knew that Nicky would do a brilliant job it was also a chance for us to catch up. Having sailed against each other as kids, but never together it was fun to have someone onboard who remembered my 18th Birthday Party. Even with several crew pulling out for good reasons we almost had our team when Anja jumped to the rescue asking two of her friends the week of the race including her Etchell skipper Louisa and Rikke who was new to sailing but extremely keen to join us. The crew list is now final from Bow with a couple of days to spare: Kate D, Anja, Lisa, Tais, Sam, Rikke, Lorna, Louisa, Marlene, Kate C then Nicky and I on the stern.

The Day of the Race: With a meeting time of 10am we handed around the crew shirts, hats and rigged the boat. Our support team decided the weather was not suitable so Animus was left on the mooring as the main supporters being my Father, Martin Hill and Marty Barry decided to take out the MHYC Starters boat to keep an eye on the MHYC boats. Thanks to MHYC who allowed this to happen as we had several camera’s taking photos of the day.

Leaving the Marina with the support team watching closely we headed out for a short practice. The motor out was the perfect time to sit in a circle and introduce ourselves, with the girls straight to the point and saying just their names. It was suppose to be an easy practice but things don’t always go to plan. As we got the main about two feet from the top of the mast we realized we had a problem. It was not going up the rest of the way as it should so we tried to pull it down with out much luck. We had only one option, someone had to go up the rig. Kate Downing was straight downstairs to put on her harness as we organized who would be doing what to get her up there. Kate had to spend a decent length of time up there to try and solve the problem and once this was fixed we set about going out to North Head to give ourselves room to do a lot of Gybes downwind. With crew switching positions to work out the most effective way to sail together. It was now time to head to the start. The food and water was passed around whilst we listened to some music and got to know each other

We soon found out that Triple M were having a countdown on the radio ‘Songs the Bridge would have on its Ipod”! Needless to say we listened to this all day and found that “We built this City” seemed to still be in some heads on Monday morning. Does it get better than this on your Birthday? Before the start Martin Hill and Morgan White who assists the Hills in looking after Estate Master came over in the run-about to make sure we were ready. Nicky decided to call a tack at this point so as I started to turn the boat I decided to have some fun and get as close as possible to Martin. He does not get to see his boat from that angle often and it was worth it as I got a big reaction from Martin, Morgan and Nicky as we had not even started the race and we were having close calls.

The race itself went according to plan. We all would have liked a more breeze; it did mean that we were able to listen to the radio whilst racing which added to the fun atmosphere onboard the boat. As much as this crew included a lot of rookies they tried their hardest at their new positions and this is what I ask of them. Next time they know how much they have to learn before they are put in the same position as we continue to improve the standard we race at. These races are about giving other women the opportunities to learn new skills whilst having fun and I could not do this without the unwavering support of Martin and Lisa Hill. For the last three years they have let me steer their yachts with an all-female crew. A big ask considering the tight racing program they have and how much work goes into maintaining the Estate Master yachts in the top form they are in. It is especially amazing considering up until one recent Thursday Night Martin and I had never sailed together. I could not do it without them so thank you Martin and Lisa for believing in what we do.

After the finish the crew started packing up the boat straight away, as committed as they had been all day. It was not till Martin came along with some Champagne to help kick-start the Birthday Celebrations that they stopped to relax. Once the drinks were onboard and the Headsail was dropped the crew got together to sing Happy Birthday. Without stopping at MHYC we all got into cars to head straight to Manly for the Presentation and to catch up with friends on other boats. Yet again it had been a fantastic event. So thankyou to the organizers as I know how much effort it takes. To the sponsors thankyou so much for supporting Women’s sailing. In the last ten years it has been amazing to see the number of competitors grow. Competing in this event as a Teenager in Flying Elevens then having the opportunity to compete in the last four years on an Adams 10, Sydney 38 and Farr 40 has had a huge impact onboard Animus. It is no longer a surprise to find that we have more Females then Males onboard on most occasions. Hopefully we will see you at the NextLadies day on Sydney Harbour.

Melissa Yeomans

Animus, 30 Knots, Sushi and Rum

Thanks to Jen, Marlene and Kate for sticking by me and helping defend the title. It was a great sail as always on a great boat. A damn shame the race was shortened as we had decided to set a kite to Manly on the longer leg. That would have been one hell of a ride with just four chicks on a 10m!

Thanks to Marty for taking some amazing photos and to the start team including Dad and John Hurley.

Apparently Hijinx recorded 36 knots and the start boat recorded 40 knots on the way back to the club. A nice day for a ladies day…

Race Name: HARKEN LADY SKIPPERS RACE

Date: 5/11/2006

Division/Class: SPINNAKER & NON SPINNAKER

Handicap: PERFORMANCE HANDICAP

Start Time: 12:30Hrs

Wind SSE 20-25 Kts

DIVISION 1 – All Lady Crew – Spinnaker

Sail No Yacht Name Skipper Elasped Time H’Cap Corrected Time Place

MH12 ANIMUS MELISSA YEOMANS 1.46.59 0.895 1.35.45 1

7027 ESTATE MASTER LISA HILL 1 DNC

3838 ZEN KIM KETELBEY 1 DNF

AUS193 WILDFIRE MICHELLE WARNER 0.735 DNS

DIVISION 2 – Mixed Crew – Spinnaker

Sail No Yacht Name Skipper Elapsed Time H’CAP Corrected Time Place

6449 CARINA JULIA SALT 2.15.49 0.79 1.47.13 1

6544 ARROW SARAH WILMOT 1.53.45 0.953 1.48.20 2

8935 HIJINX JILL KEYE & RUTH LAWRENCE 1 DNF

DIVISION 3 -Mixed Crew -Non Spinnaker

Sail No Yacht Name Skipper Elasped Time H’Cap Corrected Time Place

6502 SAGACIOUS ANNE MULLER 2.18.54 1 2.18.54 1

Photos

Melissa Yeomans

Crew’s Red Hot Regatta

After an AP of 3 hours we were able to go out and compete in 3 races with the wind flicking from 155 to 175 to 200, for each start. By now the wind had abated to 15-25 knots in the puffs with rain at times. This was hard sailing in the short chop making upwind conditions difficult. The girls did well to get the weight as far out as possible considering there was no toe rail to keep them onboard.

During the June long weekend MHYC sent a team to compete in the RMYS Women’s Keelboat Regatta.  This was in response to a generous invite from the owner of the Adams 10m Rollercoaster, Ken Simpson. We brought our own Spinnakers (3), Mainsail and #1 Genoa to make sailing on an unfamiliar boat slightly easier.

The three days of the regatta provided a range of testing conditions:

Day 1 The weather today, 5 degrees Celsius (coldest June day for 13 years), wind 2-4 knots and thick, blanketing fog.  Visibility was no more than 1000m at the best of times.  Often no more than 100m with a runabout appearing on the course from Williamstown, which is on the other side of the bay, lost and having no idea where they were.  The breeze was swinging between 40 odd degrees, with no chance of setting a course.  After nearly 4 hours floating around the race officials decided to pull the pin for day.

Day 2 Again the crew were up bright and early, for our 7am briefing with John Hurley.  However the weather was now proving a handful with gusts reaching 40 knots from the south-west forcing a delay in racing.  We went for coffee with one of the Melbourne sailing teams that were competing in the event.  After finding out racing was still delayed we then decided to do the girlie thing and head for the Markets.  Liz, Rosie, Kate and I walked a little further as they decided if they could not go for a sail on Rollercoaster they would go for team bonding at Luna Park on the Rollercoaster.  Unfortunately the Rollercoaster was not operating so back to the Yacht Rollercoaster for hopefully an afternoon of racing. After an AP of 3 hours we were able to go out and compete in 3 races with the wind flicking from 155 to 175 to 200, for each start.  By now the wind had abated to 15-25 knots in the puffs with rain at times. This was hard sailing in the short chop making upwind conditions difficult. The girls did well to get the weight as far out as possible considering there was no toe rail to keep them onboard. The fleet was mixed with the main competition coming from Salamander III (Adams 10m), Horizon Sprint (Radford 10.9), Alien (Lidgard 11m) and Hush (Cavalier 35).  That night we all watched the Wallabies play England in the Motel Lounge Bar and continued our team bonding, with our English members of the crew.

Day 3 Race one saw us use all three spinnakers, starting small and ending up with the big masthead.  It was great to see how fast the crew had become in the Spinnaker hoists as well as being able to read the sailing instructions.  This saw us getting the gun in the first race of the day.  The racing was as close as ever with only seconds separating some of the fleet.  With many headsail changes between the #1 and #3, Kate is now very experienced at headsail changes not having done any prior to the event.   We were able to get three races in, breeze 10-18 knots with the occasional gust of 25.

Following Monday’s racing, the crew enjoyed a sit down dinner presentation with many prizes and a great attendance of approx 200 competitors and friends.   The evening was hosted by the RMYS Commodore who announced during the night that next year’s event would be known as the Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta.

Congratulations to the overall winner on VYC Hyperactive (J24) Kirsty Harris.  Our overall results were VYC 5th, AMS 2nd, IRC 2nd.  We were also awarded best start trophy for one our starts.  A great result using a borrowed boat sighted for the first time 1.5 hours before the start of the first race.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank John Hurley for his Coaching and support during the regatta, the next thankyou goes to the MHYC members for their very generous support at such short notice. Thanks to all the companies who supported our raffle efforts including the Sydney Swans and DeckHardware Australasia who supplied our major prizes. Special thanks to my parents, Robyn and Phil for driving down with my sails.  A very special thankyou to Nigel Holman for the loan of his inflatable vests making the sailing more comfortable as we were required to wear lifejackets in this event.

Thanks also to the team pulling together with minimal training on Animus – Jen Rezek – Main, Liz Gazzard – Trim 1, Julie Hodder – Trim 2, Rosi Winn – Pit (plus everything else usually done by mainsheet hands in Sydney), Kate Cooper – Bow and Mast.  And to Qantas thankyou for finding Julie Hodder’s sailing gear, her bag had decided it did not like the Melbourne weather and that the regatta should be held in Cairns.

During the Regatta we enjoyed incredibly close racing with Salamander III. It is hoped that they will be able to join us in Sydney for the next MHYC Ladies Day, as we will be able to arrange an Adams 10m for them to sail.  We all had great fun and I encourage all Sydney women to think seriously about taking part next year.  As well as competing in the Women’s events on Sydney Harbour, they are always great fun.

Photos

Melissa Yeomans

CYCA Ladies Day onboard Estate Master

Yet again Estate Master became an All Female crew in a Ladies Day.  This time it was the CYCA’s turn and the team was decked out in their Harken Shirts.  The crew were Fiona on Bow (borrowed from Easy Tiger), Jen and Natasha on Mast, Our lovely boat owner – Lisa Hill in the Pitt, Julie, Cheryl and Stacey on Trim, Special guest Tina had the task of pulling the kite in, Tiffany on Mainsheet.  With the Team Harken Members Katie on Tactics and Melissa doing the driving.

If you had of seen the amount of food and drink put onboard by Lisa and topped up by the crew you would of thought Southport was starting a week early.  With the crew shirts handed out before we left the marina we headed out to do what we thought would be a few Kite hoists to get it right.  On the way out of Middle Harbour we had a 470 with Sarah Wilmot at the helm aim for us and tell us she would see us out on the race track as she was on her way back to the club to join the All Female crew on board another Sydney 38, Zen.

We decided to head around to the main Harbour to do the training where we would be racing.  The team were given a quick talk by Katie about keeping the noise down during the race.  Females can talk after all; they seemed to listen as the noise level from the rail was very quiet.  The first hoist went perfectly, we did gybe after gybe and the kite remained set.  Time for the drop, down it came.  Do we need to do that again?  Why don’t we go and pick up our special guest off Mel’s boat Animus.  With great skill the boats came along side each other so that Tina could jump onboard and join the crew. Ok then time for some Lunch and for Mel to hand the helm over to Katie for a break.  Out came the Sushi with plenty of choice for the crew.

Before the start we had many entertaining moments as the boats around us realized we were all female.  Including one boat asking us to come back as we tacked away from them and another putting the hand to throttle in case we got too close.

We were one of the last two Sydney 38’s to start with the other all female crew starting 5mins in front.

As we were running down hill we came across the Photographers ‘That is a great shot, wait, there all female on that boat.  Even Better…Hold on they are setting up for a peel.  Oh this is going to be good!’  We were all laughing whilst listening to what was coming from the photography boat.  We ended up not doing the peel as it was decided it was not needed.  It was nice to know we could have done it if needed.

Tiffany yet again proved that she could eat more than her body weight when doing the mainsheet on a Sydney 38, asking for more sushi during the race.  It was during this time that Austmark tried to get through us to windward then to leeward and so on.  They eventually got through us so we could sit on their stern wave for a short time.  On the last down wind Lisa came up on deck with Chocolate and Snakes.  I do believe there were 10 other females who were very happy to see this at the time.  Julie even stopped winding on the kite when she dropped her snake.

As we went around the bottom mark the last time with the Farr 40 Black Snake and Ginger (Swan 45), Katie and Mel made the decision to go the other side of Clark Island, which was a big call but paid off.  It took a little bit of convincing ourselves that we really could do that and take the risk.

We managed to pick off each of the Sydney 38’s one by one until there was only Next remaining.  They started 5mins in front of us and we were only able to get within a minute of them.  Estate Master was the fastest Sydney 38 by over 4mins, a great effort by the entire team.

On the way back to MHYC the motor was turned on so that we could pack up the boat. Once this was done we had the chance to pull out the Champagne, Dips and Biscuits to celebrate another great sail.  It was then we had to work out who was going in what vehicle to get to the CYCA to have a few drinks with our fellow competitors.

Melissa Yeomans

Sirius and Animus head to the Nationals

There was discussion held as to who would go under the bridge first to avoid being the first to run aground. Luckily this was no problem and both made it to the clubhouse unscathed.

Friday 7th January at approximately 9pm Animus and Sirius left MHYC for the trip north to Lake Macquarie. The conditions looked to be favourable for the trip with a 10-knot easterly.

Animus commenced the trip without any incidents leaving the harbour under #1 headsail. Perhaps the boat should be renamed to describe our minimal way of approaching things.

Sirius however decided to get underway with their #3. Perhaps this was due to the fact they were still trying to set up their bedding with (cushions, sleeping bags etc) and pack their esky with the freezer bricks they had brought for the overnight trip. That could explain the reason that one of their crew mistook a ship for new units at Mosman.

We reached Long Reef and the wind dropped completely so on went the motors. Damian slept under the tiller to keep the outboard in the water. Whilst I tried to get some rest on the cockpit floor using lifejackets or wet weather gear for pillows. Due to the connection breaking on the motor we had to jiggle the fuel into the top fuel tank and try not to run out of fuel, which unfortunately did happen a few times.

Off Norah Head the Southerly change finally caught up with us. We cleared the headsail off the deck and set the Hounds Spinnaker. Sirius was 4-6 miles further out in the set deciding to pole out their #1 headsail. Great rides in the 3-4m swell, reaching 10.9 knots on one.

Sirius carried their main all the way to the Bridge for that little extra speed. Arriving just in time to catch the 8am bridge with Animus. The tide at this time was still on the way in, as it was my first time entering the lake by boat I was amazed at the speed that it was running. My parents have often told stories over the years of the entrance and how many boats had to be dragged across the bar.

There was discussion held as to who would go under the bridge first to avoid being the first to run aground. Luckily this was no problem and both made it to the clubhouse unscathed.

It was suggested that Ben needed to recharge his smock supplied by Anthony – Djuice Hot Pink.

Within minutes of leaving the lake for the trip home all fell asleep.

Melissa Yeomans

MHYC LADIES DAY RACE 2004

Even though the weather was not on our side the day was just as good as the last time we all got together.

The fleet made up of 3 all female and 10 mixed crews, with several Sydney 38’s, J24’s and Adams 10’s competing against each other.  Nigel Holman was good enough to lend his brand new Match 42 Cuckoos Nest to an all female boat which was later renamed to The Harken Angels as Pam Fagence and Akkim Lim from Harken were on board with Halos for the crew and wings for their skipper Vanessa Dudley.  Harken staff were also represented onboard the Match 35 Fordified by Greg Butchart who had flown in that morning after attending the Harken University in the USA.

 

Animus – Melissa Yeomans, was decked out with Tiara, sequenced and ribbon hair elastics with a token featherboa on the backstay as it was too wet to wear them.  Marita Wilmot flew in from London that morning to present the crew with shirts embroidered with the Harken Logo and race name.

 

Uncensored – Simone Grout, the third all female boat also had bags of goodies but were unable to dress for the occasion due to the weather.  Seeing this you would have thought that the onwater competitiveness would not have been of a high level.  Well you soon found out this was wrong as once the start gun went off there were almost several collisions.

In a light easterly the course was set between North Head and Balmoral for three rounds with a very hard run in tide and a small confusing seaway to compete with.  Nicky Bethwaite soon settled in and led around the Edwards Beach Mark. 

The Commodore did not fare as well as they were required to recover from a MAN overboard incident.  The two small boats of the fleet Innamincka and Kaotic (J24’s) kept intouch with the fleet of larger yachts in the light conditions to come 1st and 2nd in the mixed crew.

In the second half of the race there was some very close racing between many of the boats including the leaders This Way Up steered by Nicky Souter, Estate Master – Lisa Hill and Eve’s Delight – Nicky Bethwaite.

The Harken Perpetual Trophy was presented by their representative Robyn Yeomans to Animus steered by Melissa Yeomans.  With the Ron Hyde Memorial presented to Innamincka steered by Amanda Cook.

 

We would like to thank MHYC, Oregon Scientific and Sturrocks for joining with Harken to make this a very memorable day for all.

Photos