Last night I headed up to Wangi for Haylee Outteridge’s Fundraiser for her Olympic campaign. On the way I decided to take a scenic route around the lake to catch some photos of the sunset. With Back Burning smoke in the air it was an awesome sunset to sit for a while taking photos and videos of. Lake Macquarie is one of my favourite places in the world and somewhere that I love to sail.
Just three more sleeps till I have a simply massive week ahead! I am heading to a regatta for the first time with a van ready to go. I will be onsite for the entire event as sponsor with hopefully enough product to help out the competitors should they need it. The regatta I am headed to is the Combined High School Sailing Regatta. Luckily a fair few friends will be at the event and there are a few I have not seen in a long time who will be their with their kids.
Setting this up has taken a lot of effort. A huge thanks to Mum who has helped put together the Allen bins which have images, product codes and prices of all the parts in each bin on the front to make it easy. Trying to work out what to take has been a mission. It really is a guessing game being our first attempt at this. I am looking forward to it. Trying to decide what Liros Rope to take has been the biggest challenge with such a diverse entry list. So a real assortment was the decision and occasionally there are colour choices too.
I will have my camera out for the week and post links to photos as soon as I get them all online. With such a diverse fleet it should make for some great images. As always I will be following DeckHardware Ambassador Georgia Llewellyn very closely as she competes in a Laser Radial for the first time. No doubt she will do fantastically well and will enjoy this new experience. The CHS is perfect for trying out a new boat and sailing something you don’t normally sail.
I am looking forward to a week on the water, talking Sailing, fun with friends and talking DeckHardware. It should be a fantastic week! If you are there make sure you come and say Hello! I have all sorts of goodies with me!
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!
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 