October 21, 2013October 21, 2013 Melissa Yeomans

18’s came to visit us at DeckHardware

Yesterday I headed over to the 18’s as Team Southern Cross launched their boat for the start of a new season after a massive refurb! The boat spent two days at our warehouse along with skipper Ollie Hartas getting ready for the big day. Ollie has been a DeckHardware Ambassador for a number of years and it is always great to be able to support someone who appreciates it! The previous weekend we also had the UK Team visit the warehouse and spend more than a few hours working on their boat along with my radio co-host Nic aka Adventures of a Sailor Girl. Nic and I had spent the morning on air with Sailing Chix with Nix before heading down to the warehouse to help the guys out. Nic only planned on being there for a few hours but ended up staying for the day!

Photos from Yesterday as the teams rigged and got to go sailing!

Launching Celebrations

It is great to see a couple of 18’s with Liros, DeckHardware and Allen stickers on them in the fleet now! A big thank you to Cam McDonald who does a lot of work for the skiffs and uses our products also. Cam sails onboard the Kitchen Maker and was rigging alongside the two boats who have spent time at our warehouse recently. You know you are supporting the right people when they greet you so warmly and are so glad that you are there to watch them launch their boats. Being just a small family business we really feel like our Ambassadors and those who support us are a BIG part of the DeckHardware Team.

October 4, 2013October 7, 2013 Melissa Yeomans

Exhausted

I have done it. Umpiring Three regattas in two weeks and I’m exhausted. As I sit here at the airport to head back to Sydney I can barely think straight and standing is an issue for more reasons than just exhaustion. I should really start at the beginning though.

The CYCA Youth Academy has passed its 20th anniversary which was celebrated by hosting the Australian Match Racing Championships combined with the Australian Women’s Match Racing Championship. This saw some very long days on the water trying to fit in the tight schedule. By the end of this event I was already tired and had two more to go! It didn’t help that many of us had been waking early to watch the America’s Cup during the event.

It was a fantastic to see some of the newer and younger teams mix it with some who have been match racing a long time. It was great to see who took it out as well! read more about the winners here.. I then had a day off afterwards to get some work done at DeckHardware which was much-needed.

Next up was the Australian Youth Match Racing Championships. This event saw many similar teams to the last event but with nowhere near the number of entries this was to be an easier event with shorter days on the water. The weather clearly didn’t get the memo! Day one we knew big breeze was coming but hoped to get a flight done before it hit. In the prestart I was umpiring as a big gust of 28 knots hit. This was the first time we had the chance to see how we go in the RIBS keeping up with the new E7’s! We had just a little bit on as did the sailors and the race was pulled with around 30 seconds to go to the start. Ashore we went. This would prove to be a trend over the next few days. With plenty of time under postponement on the water and ashore due to both too much wind and not enough! The final saw some amazing racing between Sam Gilmour and Harry Price’s crews. News Story on the winners.

The next event along with several of the match racers, three of the umpires including myself was the Australian University Games Teams Racing event in QLD. So the day after the match racing finished I found myself packed and sitting at the airport having my morning coffee. This was a very tricky event due to the weather conditions and location. It was based out of The Southport School using their boats on the river. For the most part the weather played fair and only shifted a little during racing although the tide caught out a LOT of competitors. The last day however was much harder with many hours spent watching the breeze shift 90-180 degrees differences. It seemed the breeze at the seaway was fighting with what was down south and we were stuck in the middle. The competitors were fantastic in understanding the officials were trying to ensure the best sailing they could. Once again there was a team of sailors ahead of the rest! Team UWA including several of the crew from Sam Gilmour’s Match Racing Team. It was also great to catch up with Carrie Smith who we support through DeckHardware. It was almost by accident that we realised we were both there on the first day as I went alongside the boat she was on to help out with some damage.

Somehow during the Teams Racing event I managed to hurt my left foot. Through exhaustion and my hyper mobility I am not surprised in the slightest! I ended up with some good bruises on my legs during all of the events but the clear winner was my left foot with bruising on the side and near the toes. It has caused me to hobble around for days! Time to head back to the Physio to find out what I have done after the Long Weekend.

It is great to be back in Sydney with so much work to catch up on after two weeks on the water. It was a big effort shared with Jeremey and Erica who are great friends along with being fellow umpires. The fact the three of us were sitting at the airport to come home exhausted said it all. Dad has headed off to SA and VIC to see DeckHardware customers you can follow his adventure on his Twitter Account or our DeckHardware Facebook Page.

September 19, 2013September 19, 2013 Melissa Yeomans

Sailing again!

Well today I couldn’t be happier! This week my physio remeasured my core and we saw a great improvement! It has taken a long time and been a long road as I could not afford to go to the physio as much as I would like or been able to do as much reformer Pilates with her as we would like. My main source of improvement has been thanks to Pilates at Virgin Active. Michelle is a great instructor who really mixes up the types of equipment she uses in class which is great fun and often a big challenge. The reason for choosing Virgin Active to try and get better was all the facilities they have available such as the pool, spa, sauna and plunge pool as well as their class time table.

I’m not just happy today because all the hard work and time has seen an improvement. I went SAILING yesterday!!! I wanted to test how I was going on a slightly more relaxed race like a Wednesday Race instead of on the weekend! I went out on Sirius an Adams 10m with Ben Nossiter who has always been a huge mentor of mine. I also had one of my old crew Jen onboard along with of course knowing a couple of Ben’s crew. I wouldn’t have wanted to be on any other boat for my first sail back! It was a typical gusty westerly which is always interesting as the breeze plays games on you. When we realised we had more than a full crew we decided to unhank the #2 headsail and go for the old cutdown #1 as we figured there were enough of us onboard. So much for taking it easy!

I love sailing on an Adams 10 in big breeze and found myself in trim with one of Ben’s longest serving crew who has known me a long time. Needless to say because we knew each other well there was plenty of heckling and a great time had by all onboard. We were fastest 10m around the course which is always nice too but Ben has an incredible record of wins at MHYC in the Adams 10 class. If you are wondering what an Adams 10m is check out the website.

Unfortunatly I won’t get to go sailing again in the near future as I am spending the next two weeks umpiring at a number of Match Racing Events in NSW followed by a Teams Racing Regatta in QLD. It will be a hectic few weeks with just the one day off to be here in the office to get some work done at DeckHardware. I am extremely lucky my work is in the Sailing Industry and allows me the time out to do such events. Bring on the huge weeks ahead! Yes my Physio knows I have a lot happening and expects to see me at the end of it all hopefully for Pilates and not in pain. Lets hope!

Went sailing for the first time in ages thanks to my physio.! Loved it so much! Fastest in our fleet… http://t.co/9Rx37VQCr9

— DeckHardware (@DeckHardware) September 18, 2013

September 14, 2013September 14, 2013 Melissa Yeomans

One word is ‘Epic’

I really can only think of one word to describe last weekend. Epic. What was I thinking when I planned on being at Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s 75th Opening Day followed by Manly Relay for Life. Thankfully Nix had no intention of doing over 18 hours on air this year and all that goes with it! She also had decided to luckily rule out all costume changes which makes life easier as I did not have to chase after her making sure she was wearing shoes etc! Instead we were able to enjoy the event that is Manly Relay for Life, to sit back and take it all in.

I started the day at the Yacht Clubs Volunteer Breakfast which was fantastic with a good friend of mine Jen who is back in the country for a while. This was followed by some fun events on the water and the beach! What a great effort by those at the club to create a fun atmosphere to celebrate the day. It was great to see the Sail Past in action once again with the club’s Start Boat leading the way which Dad was of course onboard! Nix joined me at the Club Open day along with Producer so the rest of the day could be planned, well as much as you can plan something like Relay for Life! With all our day jobs we had not had the time to make much of a plan beyond knowing that we were starting the day at the Yacht Club and Finishing the day at Manly Relay for Life. Who knew what the day would bring!

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I managed to take around an hour of video and am gradually reducing it down to something a little fun. There were a few highlights of the morning as friends jumped in the Simulator early in the day followed by Youth Sailing Manager Locky being thrown in the water as you can see in the photo. Not a bad day to be thrown in the water and I must say that Jen and I were more than a little jealous as we drove off to Manly for the Afternoon.

After MHYC it was then time for Jen and I to head to Manly to join up with Radio Northern Beaches where once again Nix was highly involved and we were broadcasting on air. It was so hard to leave the fun activities at the Yacht Club behind and as we drove to Manly we heard Nix start broadcasting saying others would be joining her soon. We were almost there and just trying to find a park! As I said earlier the day was much better suited to swimming and when we got to Manly we found ourselves almost melting in the heat. There is something about Manly Relay for life and the atmosphere of the occasion that makes it such a great event to be involved in. As you can see Nix didn’t manage to stay out of costumes all together! Some of the Manly Relay for Life organisers talked her into just the one change on air so there was no escaping it! It was a big night to be on air as you also had the Australian Election and some Rugby on as well but we tried to avoid that with the score.

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I had an amazing day and took all of Sunday to recover which was much better than last year hahaha! It was great to be able to spend the Day with Jen doing some very different things to just a normal Saturday whilst she is home. I am very lucky to have such great and fun friends!

February 18, 2013February 18, 2013 Melissa Yeomans

Pittwater High Schools Teams Racing

Over the weekend I umpired over 60 teams races. On Saturday we were lucky to have Arthur Spithill and Ian Humphries along with Murray Gordon and myself. Sunday Murray and I were back and we threw Oscar Stranack into the deep end for the full day and he did a great job! He even got to umpire two lots of Finals as we had a tie for 1st and 4th after two round robins.

Saturday we had to wait for the breeze to fill in and that was with a late start. I guess I should not give the PRO a hard time as it was my father haha. It was tricky conditions over the weekend with East to South East breeze flicking around a lot. Sunday was fairly similar with more than a few course changes to make things interesting.

The winning team came down to a best of three finals with Mater Maria and Pittwater High fighting it out and even though Mater Maria won Pittwater were in it till the finish. It was great to see several Girls Schools out there competing as well! There was even mention of a competitor helping out those new to the sport whilst racing against each other. Fantastic! There were several teams that had a few people completely new to the sport out there giving it a go. And what a great looking weekend to do it.

I didn’t get the chance to take a photo but I must comment on the Jellyfish. They were MASSIVE!!!

This week is a big week yet again with both my Co-Hosts from Sailing Chix with Nix having their birthdays!

Happy Birthday Chix!

I am also hoping to head over to the 18’s who are competing at the JJ’s with my good camera to watch for a day or two. Then Sunday sees me back umpiring some Teams Racing again. This time it is the Opti’s for just the one day. For now I am in the office catching up on some work, designing some advertising for DeckHardware and catching up on the America’s Cup action from over the weekend that I missed.

February 11, 2013 Melissa Yeomans

An Aussie Weekend

What a weekend! Saturday Morning as always started with the Sailing Chix on air. It was a big show full of AC talk and lots of Match Racing, TP52’s as well as the up coming JJ’s for the 18’s. There is plenty happening in the world of sailing this year that is for sure!

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Sunday was pretty big. My first umpiring event for the year was the Marinassess Women’s Match Racing Regatta, won by Kathleen Stroinovsky and her crew of Lucinda Whitty, Samantha Boyd and Kate Brown, representing the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. It was a very tricky day with the Southerly hitting early on and causing the breeze to be very shifty as well as changing strengths with the shifts. Women’s Sailing has come a long way in the last few years and we can thank the Olympics for including Match Racing at the London Games. It was great to see Lucinda Whitty one of our Silver Medal winners out there yesterday as that helps increase the skill of the competitors. It is also great as the atmosphere at the event was such a friendly one as well as being competitive. This goes for everyone including Competitors, Organizers, Race Committee and Umpires. It really felt like everyone was there to grow and improve as well as having a great time out on our awesome Harbour.

Leaving the CYCA I managed to get home to watch the last 1.5hrs of the Bathurst 12hour. The race could be watched online via the website which was AWESOME! The commentary was great to listen too as well. The weather was teasing so much with rain all around the Mountain making it extremely difficult to choose what car setup to go for. I can’t wait for the V8’s to start up with the new teams mixing it up a bit! Check out some of the video here. Apparently I missed an incredible amount of Safety Cars in the morning part of the race as well as some of the crazy rain that had them doing 40K around the track on the wrong tyres. I will definitely be checking out the highlight footage. Great effort by those who put together the coverage and did the Commentary. Loved it.

Now for another big week at DeckHardware followed by a full weekend of umpiring at the Pittwater High Schools Teams Racing this weekend up at RPAYC. Summer truly is awesome.

January 20, 2013August 24, 2023 Melissa Yeomans

16 Nationals

Yesterday I had the chance to head down to Manly to watch some old friends compete in the 16′ Skiff Nationals. Lee Knapton and the crew of Brydens had already taken out the championship. We actually talked to Lee that morning on Sailing Chix. In second place was my oldest friend Nath Wilmot who we also talked to that morning. He was sailing on Hubble with the skiff legend Peter Hubble. Congratulations to both crews it is fantastic to see Lee and Nath still battling each other at the front of the Fleet! Another title from Lee as this one just slipped out of Nath’s reach. I am sure in the future he will get the chance to be the 16’s Champion.

The crew of Bryden’s had remarkable pace off the start line. They then ended up in the drink thanks to a broken shackle. The point of this story is massive. Even though they had won the series Lee was prepared as always and had a shackle in his life jacket. What do you carry? They were able to fix it and fight their way back through the fleet showing just how good they are.

It was great to catch up with so many of my old Flying 11 friends. I grew up sailing as a teenager at Manly 16′ Skiff Club and I am still a member there so many years later. This past season we at DeckHardware have supported the Fire Stopping team. All very old friends of mine who despite this put together the best sponsorship proposal I have seen in years! It wasn’t their regatta but it was great to see the three of them on the water together!

Link to the images I took on Facebook.

Check out the short video I took on the day!

December 24, 2012December 24, 2012 Melissa Yeomans

Boxing Day is almost here!

Yeah ok we have Christmas first. But Boxing Day is going to be just so exciting this year it is hard to not get excited. We at Sailing Chix with Nix will be doing a live coverage of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race start on Boxing Day. Once again my Dad will be the starter on the second line as well. So it is a big day for us!

Sailing Chix with Nix will be LIVE on Boxing Day covering the Start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race!

Sailing Chix

Sailing Chix with Nix will be live on location for the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race based at Tania Park above Grotto Point on the Northern Beaches in Sydney! The Chix can’t wait to bring you five hours of interviews from yachts, specialists, weather gurus, the community and more to really bring the Hobart to life! We will kick off from 9AM and take you right through until 2PM as the boats leave the heads and start the journey South!

Want to know more about Sailing Chix with Nix head over to our website www.sailingchix.org

You can listen live via radio, streaming online or via the Tune In app – details below!

Radio: 88.7 or 90.3 in Sydney

Apps: Tune In

Tunein website

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!

Bring on Boxing Day!

December 18, 2012December 18, 2012 Melissa Yeomans

Sail Sydney takes over

I am sitting here trying to figure out what to say. Massive. Huge. Epic. Is pretty much all I can come up with. I spent 4 days at Sail Sydney on the Start / Finish boat for Course area B and I am exhausted. We had all sorts of classes including: 470, 420, 49er and FX, Windsurfers, Access Classes, 2.4, 29er, Moths etc. At times finishing boats of such varying speeds was a little interesting. It was great to work with some other start teams to see how they do things.

It was great to see Tom Slingsby and Iain Jensen get out on their Moths and have some fun away from their Olympic Classes. Starting and finishing the Moths was certainly interesting. Although we did have some very light air on the last day which meant low ride starts for the Moths. Old School! Thanks to those who put some DeckHardware stickers on their boats.

Sail Sydney was a huge event with over 460 competitors. Amazing turnout!

Saturday was a pretty big effort. I did the Radio show in the morning then rushed to MHYC to jump on the start boat so Dad could take me around to get on the WSC start boat. I jumped into a RIB to transfer in between. Literally going from one side of the RIB to the other as it was easier than transferring between the bigger boats. Thanks to Dad for the delivery!

Sailing Chix with Nix is going amazingly well and appeared on the front page of Sailing Anarchy last week as a show to listen too. We are being received so well in the wider community and had the chance to talk to Mark Richards and Carl Crafoord on Saturday about their Hobart experiences. We are looking forward to Boxing Day and talking to them before the race start along with many others.

Listen to our live show this Boxing Day from 9am for the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race!

You can listen live via radio, streaming online or via the Tune In app – details below!

Radio: 88.7 or 90.3 in Sydney

Stream: Northern Beaches Radio (streaming)

Apps: Tune In is one of the best ways for those to listen outside of Sydney!

You can also catch our past shows, or keep up to date on news during the week via our social media!

Past shows

December 2, 2012December 2, 2012 Melissa Yeomans

Umpiring has taken over

Over the last two weeks I have been extremely busy learning more about the world of umpiring. Two weeks ago I spent a couple of days umpiring up at RPAYC for the Harken International Youth Match Racing Champs. It was a good to see how things are done at another club. The wind certainly was very testing with more than a few postponements. I was great to meet some more umpires and see how they do things and why. Having not done a course yet everything I’ve learnt comes from on the water.

On the weekend I was unable to continue umpiring as Saturday Sailing Chix with Nix did our first on location show. 2 hours live at MHYC for the SSORC. We will be doing more of this sort of thing in the future and it was great the support we got from Scott at MHYC. On Sunday dad then asked me to help on the start boat offshore. Not a great deal of fun in 4 knots and once again I saw that postponement flag.

This past week I have been busy at the Musto International Youth Match Racing Champs. It was a different umpire team again with a handful of the same faces. Wow I have learnt a lot after two weeks in a row. I was lucky to have the support of some great umpires. The weather once again was inserting but the last two days we finally saw some great breeze from the Nor’easter.

It was great to see my friends from Musto at the regatta too. With Duncan out there on the last day to watch the action.

It’s my turn in the warehouse now as Dad has headed down to Melbourne already for Sail Melbourne. He’s taken the DeckHardware van down with some stock and catalogues. If your there keep an eye out for him!

It’s that time of year isn’t it! Summer and Sailing! Love it!