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