Sponsorship

Melissa Yeomans

Celebrations for Good Luck

I am lucky to not just sponsor members of the Australian Sailing Team with our Liros Rope but to call some of them friends.   Last night was the Good Luck Farewell for Nath and Goobs or awesome 49er duo.  Yes it meant heading up to Wangi for the night but it was well worth it.  Nath and I for a while before we bought the business were the sole employees.  Goobs and his big brother and I sailed against each other when we were like 12.  Which is how Matt introduced me to people last night haha.

It truly is something special to be able to support friends in the way I am able.  Nath and Goobs also put together the PROtect Tape kit for 49ers for us.

They were no doubt surprised we made the effort but it was well worth it as they are only here for a few days before heading off to compete at London 2012.

Last night the boys were celebrated in style with a poem, some heckling and just a lot of proud friends and family.  Many of their family in fact are already over in Europe getting ready to support them over there.  Due to the Sydney International Boat Show I will be in Sydney and cheering as loudly as possible. I know I won’t be alone in this.

Two guys I have known for a long time.  Two great down to earth blokes.

Go you good things!  And yes Nath – #AussieSailorsRock

Staying the night in Wangi I got to wake up to this view…  Awesome.   No wonder these guys love our sport so much!  Look at their home ground!

The Poem:

Last nights version was slightly modified to suit Nath and Goobs. It was well read. Here is the original:

Green and Gold Malaria
by Rupert McCall

The day would soon arrive when I could not ignore the rash.
I was obviously ill and so I called on Doctor Nash.
This standard consultation would adjudicate my fate.
I walked into his surgery and gave it to him straight:
`Doc, I wonder if you might explain this allergy of mine,
I get these pins and needles running up and down my spine.
From there, across my body, I will suddenly extend –
My neck will feel a shiver and the hairs will stand on end.
And then there is the symptom that only a man can fear –
A choking in the throat, and the crying of a tear.’
Well, the Doctor scratched his melon with a rather worried look.
His furrowed brow suggested that the news to come was crook.
`What is it Doc?’ I motioned. `Have I got a rare disease?
I’m man enough to cop it sweet, so give it to me, please.’
`I’m not too sure,’ he answered, in a puzzled kind of way.
`You’ve got some kind of fever, but it’s hard for me to say.
When is it that you feel this most peculiar condition?’
I thought for just a moment, then I gave him my position:
`I get it when I’m standing in an Anzac Day parade,
And I get it when the anthem of our native land is played,
And I get it when Meninga makes a Kiwi-crunching run,
And when Border grits his teeth to score a really gutsy ton.
I got it back in ’91 when Farr-Jones held the Cup,
And I got it when Japan was stormed by Better Loosen Up.
I get it when Banjo takes me down the Snowy River,
And Matilda sends me waltzing with a billy-boiling shiver.
It hit me hard when Sydney was awarded the Games,
And I get it when I see our farmers fighting for their names.
It flattened me when Bertrand raised the boxing kangaroo,
And when Perkins smashed the record, well, the rashes were true blue.
So tell me, Doc,’ I questioned. `Am I really gonna die?’
He broke into a smile before he looked me in the eye.
As he fumbled with his stethoscope and pushed it out of reach,
He wiped away a tear and then he gave me this stirring speech:
`From the beaches here in Queensland to the sweeping shores of Broome,
On the Harbour banks of Sydney where the waratah’s in bloom.
From Uluru at sunset to the Mighty Tasman Sea,
In the Adelaide cathedrals, at the roaring MCG.
From the Great Australian Blight up to the Gulf of Carpentaria,
The medical profession call it “green and gold malaria”.
But forget about the text books, son, the truth I shouldn’t hide.
The rash that you’ve contracted here is “good old Aussie pride”.
I’m afraid that you were born with it and one thing is for sure –
You’ll die with it, young man, because there isn’t and cure.’

 

Melissa Yeomans

Hanging with the Australian Sonar Sailing Team

On Friday I was given the chance by a friend of mine to join him on the coach boat for the Australian Sailing Sonar Team. I had helped coach Grant find some people to spend the weekend training against. On the Friday it was members of the CYCA match racing squads who joined us for a sail out to the heads and back before work on starts began. It certainly was great to watch the match racers who are experts at one on one starts match it against the Sonar Team in the final stages of their preparation for the Paralympics just a few weeks away.

The biggest thing about Friday was I GOT A PARKING SPOT! Anyone who has been to the CYCA knows how hard it can be to get a spot outside the clubs! I could not believe my luck this time around. It was a good thing as I had three rolls of shockcord for Sturrocks and a few things for the Sonar team as well.

Saturday I headed out once again on an umpire boat at the CYCA this time with Ian Humphries followed by Kinsgley once more. The breeze really was testing as it was so light at times. Once again I am so thankful to the Umpires who have welcomed me into their fold and offered support and assistance as well as their friendship! Special thanks to Ian and Erica!!! Who have been in touch with me outside just seeing each other at the events. I also dropped by the Sonar guys afterwards to see how their day had gone.

Sunday was back over that way again for the third day in a row! This time to see my friends who were heading out as the Sonar Training partners. What a big day for young Emma! We also had to work out what other PROtect Tape the guys needed to make the Sonar Rock!

Just another big three days…

 

Melissa Yeomans

Huge weekend on and near the Harbour

Friday started off with a First Aid course run at Middle Harbour Yacht Club run by Splint-All.  Fantastic course with references to sailing throughout.   So good to do and I recommend it to everyone as it was very hands on and not all theory.   With real fake blood and needles sticking it of people in mock scenarios and more!  This is something I have been meaning to do for a long time and I am glad to have finally ticked it off my list.

Saturday saw me heading out on the water for the first day of  The Captain John Piper Match Racing Regatta out of the CYCA.  This time I had my own whistle!  In the morning there were three of us onboard so for the first time I got to hear Umpires talking to each other which was extremely helpful.  In the afternoon it was just Erica Kirby and I which was fantastic as I got to step into the role properly and have a great time doing so.  The sunshine and awesome Sydney Harbour Winter weather certainly helped make it such an awesome day out there.
Sunday I ended up at my favourite club, Middle Harbour Yacht Club.  Phil Clinton the club Vice Commodore, Phil Yeomans aka Dad the club PRO and myself took out the club start boat Hugh George.   Dad was giving us lessons on how to drive the boat so that we will be able to in future.   It meant we got to head our of Middle Harbour and down the Main Harbour round Shark Island and back.   We ducked into Rose Bay to watch one of the sailors we sponsor Nic Douglass who was out training with her Dad in the Taser as their Nationals get close.

Sydney Harbour certainly put on a show for us.  What a perfect winters day!   Awesome clear blue sky, crystal clear water and a greats breeze.  How lucky were all those out there today!!!

The CYCA fleet was out in force and looked fantastic packing the Harbour and looking amazing.   They gave me so many chances to take photos as we headed down the Harbour towards the CYCA start boat to say Hi.

As we packed up the boat to head home one of our other Ambassadors Georgia was heading out in the 420 with her skipper for a spot of training as well!   You are all awesome!

A busy week is in my sights as we get into boat show preparation mode for the big Sydney International Boat Show which is sneaking up on us.   Plus I will be heading out again next Saturday to learn even more about umpiring!

Check out the photos and videos from today at the DeckHardware Fan Page on Facebook.

I also took some video of Nic and her Dad Rob out on the Taser heading out for their training session.

Melissa Yeomans

A big night in Sailing

The Australian Sailing Team last night proved they are well on their way to Gold at London 2012.  4 Golds, 1 Silver and a Bronze in Weymouth!  What a fantastic effort by the team!   Check out who they are on the Australian Sailing Team website.

A huge thanks and congratulations to the folks on Sail For Gold Radio who did a fantastic job on the Commentary!   Following it on Twitter whilst listening to their great commentary was almost as good as watching live video!

Sponsoring the Australian Sailing Team with our Liros Rope has been a huge commitment by us at DeckHardware.   It is great to see them getting such fantastic results and it makes the hard work to be able to afford to sponsor them more worth while.  We are also extremely thankful to Pietro from PROtect Tapes who has also been supplying members of the team with what they need.  It truly has been such a fantastic support of not only us but the Australian Sailing Team.  Thank you Pietro!   For those who have not seen it yet check out the PROtect Tapes 49er Kit put together by the PROtect Tapes team and Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen.

As the London Olympics get closer I realise I will need a lot of coffee to join the online twitter cheer squad each night.  A huge shout out to @mainsheetmeda, @nic_douglass, @soueaster on a fantastic effort last night!  #goaussies #AussieSailorsRock

Join us on twitter!  @deckhardware

Also a big thanks to @craigheydon and @AusSailingTeam

I have some big days and nights in my future with the Sydney International Boat Show happening at the same time as the London Olympics.   I hope you will join me in the late nights cheering on our Olympic Sailors in their quests for Gold!  We all should be so proud of the efforts and sacrifices that they, their coaches, managers, physios, sponsors, family, friends and all who support them in their quest to do the best they can.

I hope the Australian Media realise how big this could be for Australian Sailing and that they show more support for our fantastic sport and our amazing representatives.   They do us proud and deserve more recognition.

I don’t want a repeat of last time.  Being promised by the networks that the medal race would be shown live only to have to find a way to watch it online whilst several news crews watched the family and friends of Nathan Wilmot cram around a laptop to enjoy the moment that they too were all a part of.

It takes many people to climb a mountain.   It truly is a team effort so thank you to those sailors who have also recognised our contribution to their goals.  We are just a small company trying to do what we can for people we believe in.   A special thanks to Nath and Goobs for keeping us all hanging in the Medal race.   I could not ask for more from two people we sponsor.  You always do your best to ensure your sponsors are acknowledged so thank you.   It makes a big difference.

#goaussies   #AussieSailorsRock

Melissa Yeomans

CHS Sailing Regatta is over for another year

The 46th Combined High Schools Sailing Championships (CHS) in conjunction with 34th Australian Secondary Schools Sailing Championship and 37th NSW Secondary Schools Sailing Championships.   An event that tested all those in attendance, competitors and race officers alike.  What was with that weather!   Breeze, No Breeze, pouring rain and boiling hot!   From Freezing in the rain to crews going swimming and capsizing on purpose or being capsized by other competitors during the postponement!

Watching the sky above Lake Macquarie proved a tricky read for Race Officers and competitors resulting in several postponement’s and a day abandoned.    Wouldn’t it have been nice to have a Noreaster!

Watching the skill levels of some of the sailors out on the water was fantastic.  It was great to see so many different classes being sailed so well.  In particular the leading Flying Eleven sailors who I enjoyed watching sail extremely well.   Along with watching people sailing something new to them or giving a regatta a go.   I hope you all enjoyed the new experiences.

With the inclusion of Allen, TBS and PROtect Tape to our range of Liros Rope we are now in a position of being able to supply a support van to local Regattas.  Our first trial of this was the CHS at Belmont.  I could not have done it without the assistance of Rhys and Georgia Llewellyn, Goughy, Liz Gazzard, Greg and Emma Harris.   Thanks so much for your help in keeping the van company!  Special thanks to Rhys who helped re rig a couple of boats along with Georgia, Kate and Emma who took time to write and draw on my whiteboard to be displayed in the van.   I learnt a lot about how to manage the van at regatta’s in the future.   It was a fantastic experience and we will be doing it in future.   So keep an eye out for the newly stickered DeckHardware van!  Thanks Rhys for putting the stickers on.
Special Congrats go to Georgia for coming Third in the Laser Radial  plus Emma and Susie Milton coming Third in the Aust Girls Division. The Narrabeen Lakes Sailing Club was represented by 6 fantastic young women who did so well!

Congratulations to all competitors and especially to the Division winners.  Year 6 and all High School Students make sure you put this in the Calendar for next year!   It is a great event to meet sailors from other classes and perhaps sail something you would not normally compete in.

Here are the links to all the photo albums on our facebook fan page.  I hope you enjoy all the photos.   There is video yet to come.  A huge thanks to our DeckHardware supporters / assistants Liz Gazzard and Rhys Llewellyn who assisted in getting so many photos from different locations during the regatta.

Race Results

Image Links:

CHS last Race from a second RIB   

Last Race of the CHS from the RIB

CHS Race 3 from Shore and Finish Boat

CHS Race 3 from RIB

CHS Race 2 from Shore

CHS Race 2 from the RIB

CHS Race 1 from shore

CHS Race 1 from the RIB

Melissa Yeomans

The Estate Master Womens Sailing Team entry in Womens Challenge

This is our story, we would love to hear the other crews stories. Whether it is in Division 1 or Division 9. Every crew has a tale to tell.

The Estate Master Womens Sailing Team came out in force for the Manly Yacht Club Musto / Sturrocks Womens Challenge last Sunday, 22nd of March. The initial challenge was to assemble a team of talented women to get the Grand Prix Farr 40 around the race course. In doing this I am very lucky to have the support of Martin and Lisa Hill who have allowed me to steer their boat for several years.

This year I stepped aside from the helm to enable Sarah Hill to be our skipper for the day, which broadens the skill set of the Estate Master team, but I was to call tactics so not much of a move! Sarah has sailed on Estate Master over the years and has a background in top class rowing and we were both excited about the new approach to this years Women’s Day challenge.

Several of the crew for this year have sailed together on Animus (my Adams 10m) for several years and a few have been onboard Estate Master but not all together as a crew. A Farr 40 is an entirely different beast to control! This did not make them a novice crew, far from it but it was a team who had never sailed a Farr 40 or anything like it together before. Bearing this in mind we allowed for over an hour of training before the race which is generally enough to iron out the major kinks, to help the crew to gel and for Sarah and I to find a rhythm. To complete the triumvirate of brains trust at the back of the boat we had Estate Master newcomer Kristen Short on mainsheet, someone who I have sailed with for over 5 years and trust implicitly.

Rounding out the crew were from front to back, on the pointy end we had Katrina Ham who was a first timer on a Farr 40, previously a stranger but now a friend to us all who impressed us greatly at the tricky end. On the mast was Rosi Winn someone who has a great reputation from the Adams 10m fleet and she backed it up here. In the middle of the boat pulling the strings we had two ladies who need no introduction but for kicks we’ll do it anyway! Lisa Hill and her partner in crime Sam Phillis. No kite went up, no headsail came down without their say so. They combined wonderfully as usual and made life easy for the rest of us. Running the engine room we had three very talented trimmers, Cate Barry, Katie Cooke and Liz Gazzard. They shared the duties of trimming, as it should be on any good boat, and they powered the boat upwind and downwind and communicated beautifully with Sarah and I. This made the job of steering Estate Master to the double of line honours and handicap a joy for us both. Sarah Hill did an amazing job steering this complicated beauty for the first time and I might have picked a shift or two but then again boat speed makes you a wonderful tactician eh? Might I add it was a pleasure to sail with all these awesome women.

The Musto / Sturrocks Manly Yacht Club Womens Challenge is a fantastic event co-ordinated by Ivana McAlpine and the team at MYC. There are over 50 boats sailing across nine divisions in both all womens and mixed crews. In all womens sailing finding enough women who can sail is easy; finding enough to fill every position is the hard part. This is one of the reasons for us to compete in such events, the chance to try out a crew slot you might not otherwise get and to improve the skills and experience of women in sailing. As a skipper and boat owner it is important to me to increase the numbers competing in our sport and if an all womens event introduces new people then it can be only seen as a positive thing.

Firstly the Estate Master Womens Team would like to thank Middle Harbour Yacht Club for allowing us to use their start boat, Hugh George, as our support boat for the day to entertain our sponsors, friends, partners and family. Onboard were such luminaries as Martin Hill, Commodore of MHYC and owner of Estate Master, Chris Williams reknowned Sydney Harbour sportsboat sailor and all round top bloke. Phil Yeomans from DeckHardware and regular MHYC RO and Duncan Curnow from Musto Australia. During the course of the day they combined their talents to assist race entry Zen (a mixed crew Sydney 38) from the tricky spot they found themselves on the rocks in Taylor’s Bay. They also provided the love, support, affection and a little bit of pre-start coaching that we needed.

Thanks go to Manly Yacht Club for hosting a wonderful event and their excellent race committee. The sponsors of the event Musto (employer of our own beloved Sam Phillis!) wonderful manufacturers of wet weather gear. Sturrocks, equally wonderful supplier of wet weather gear and all your other sailing wear needs, a big thank you.

Finally a massive thanks to Martin and Lisa Hill for providing the continuing platform for the Estate Master Womens Sailing Team to perform on.