sailing regattas

Melissa Yeomans

Sydney Harbour

I am so lucky to live in Sydney.  Days like this remind me why that is as winter turns the sky an amazing blue.  The Harbour too shows off the varying depths and colours.  I could watch the Harbour for hours as it changes through the day.

Sydney Harbour in Winter
Sydney Harbour in Winter
Middle Harbour in Winter
Middle Harbour in Winter

I am hoping the weather stays beautiful as once again this Saturday I am umpiring at the CYCA.   Last week was week one of the Capt John Piper regatta with this week the finals.  It has been a busy few weeks as prior to that we also had the East Coast Champs at MHYC my home club.  Which was a full weekend on the start boat and in the protest room on a Sunday night to hear a couple of protests.

The conditions on the Saturday of the East Coast Champs were interesting with light breeze and a big seaway out on the sound as the video shows.

Melissa Yeomans

Umpiring takes over again

Last weekend I spent the entire time indoors with the umpire team doing a seminar. Huge thanks to Gary Manuel for his time and effort in putting together the seminar!  Thanks to Erica Kirby for making it happen too! A room full of umpires and I am sure you can imagine the topics and discussions that occurred.

This past weekend we got back out on the water which was much needed. It reminded us of why we love to umpire. How lucky are we! Amazing harbour, blue sky’s and sunshine…  If only the breeze could behave haha, there is no chance it is winter breezes! And to think this is the off season if there were such a thing, match racing is just starting up. It’ll be a big year for match racing in Sydney with some very special anniversary events at the CYCA.

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Sydney Harbour

Melissa Yeomans

Sydney Harbour turns it on

On Sunday I was on the water for the NSW High Schools Teams Racing Championships.   It is days like this that make me well aware of how lucky I am to be able to spend time on Sydney Harbour. It was a very long day but views like this make it worth while!   I am extremely lucky to live in a city with such an amazing Harbour full of sailors enjoying the beautiful sunshine.  To think this is the CYCA Winter Series sailing past?  So lucky.

The photos were taken with my iphone using a waterproof casing for on the water and not the best for photography.

What an amazing view
What more can I say? I had a little play in Instagram
Spectacular view from the WSC balcony
The fog starts to clear to show Shark Island
CYCA fleet action
CYCA Winter Series comes past
More of the CYCA fleet
Melissa Yeomans

CHS Sailing

The CHS is an amazing event that I did for many years as a teenager.  One that attracts a huge variety of classes each year.

Here is a little story on the special event that was put together during the CHS by the DeckHardware team.   When I competed in the CHS there were several different functions during the week and I decided this year to put one together.  It was a great deal of work but something that was well worth it as the night was well received by everyone.  I can not thank those enough who helped me out with the function.  I especially wish to thank those who attended as special guests:  Liesl Tesch, Karyn Gojnich, Lindsay Stead, James Burman and the Sailing Chix – Nix and Nic.  I couldn’t have put together the night without your support and enthusiasm along with those who could not attend but wished me good luck telling me to go for it.

Series results

For a bunch of photos head over to the DeckHardware Facebook page.

The Special Guests on stage
The Van setup at the CHS
Melissa Yeomans

A fascinating sky

Last Friday, Saturday and Sunday I was umpiring at the NSW Teams Racing Champs. But this isn’t about the racing. As there wasn’t much breeze I spent a long time looking up at the sky trying to predict the breeze. As well as trying to work out when the wet weather gear needed to be on or off. While doing this I realised just how much I love watching clouds. Yes we got wet as it rained on us in no breeze. To make up for the no wind and getting rained on the sky put on a show for us to keep us entertained during the multiple postponements. I still hate as a sailor drizzling rain and no breeze. I much prefer rain and breeze!

Clouds at different levels crossing over as some go North and some South. The varying colours and types are truly fascinating.  I still don’t fully understand what they all mean but after laying back in the rib I realised I just enjoy watching the way they move and could do it for hours.

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Melissa Yeomans

420 and 470 State Titles

Over the weekend I was assisting at the 420 and 470 NSW State Titles out of MHYC.  What a huge weekend with BIG WAVES and BIG BREEZE!  On Saturday we actually set the course inside Middle Harbour!  Not something we would normally do but even there it was gusting 24 knots with swells rolling in every now and then.  Creating some great surfing opportunities for those competing.

On Sunday we headed into the Sound with a smaller start team on a smaller start boat!  Not ideal in a big seaway but certainly interesting.   Unfortunatly I had no chance of taking photos on the Sunday.   The breeze held steady at 15-17 knots and the swell was less than Saturday but still had some big moments.

470 Results

420 Results

A little video I took on Saturday when I had the time.

Photos from Saturday

This weekend is another HUGE weekend at Middle Harbour Yacht Club with the Sydney Harbour Regatta on.  Saturday morning sees the Sailing Chix Live on location kick starting things.  Let’s hope for beautiful sunshine and a Nor’easter!  They have been lacking lately…

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.

Melissa Yeomans

Sponsorship feels good

How good is it to be in the position to support sailors who are off on adventure and love the sport of Sailing.  Since sponsoring the Australian Youth Championships we have announced a number of new sailors to join the DeckHardware Ambassador Team.  Currently it stands at:  Nic Douglass, Tom Freeman,David Gilmour, Lachy Gilmour, Brad Greenrod, Ben & Scott King, Alec Milligan, Michael Pfeffer, Dante Olivieri & Alex Marzano, Carrie Smith & Ella Clark and the Fire Stopping 16ft skiff team. 

We will be adding more names to this list over the coming days which is truly exciting!  At the moment the Fire Stopping Team are competing in their National Championships and we wish them the best of luck!  When looking for our Ambassadors we don’t just look at results, we look at their goals, personalities, love for the sport, sportsmanship and much more.

On another good note, last week I got the chance along with the Sailing Chix to head up to Wangi to watch the Moth Nationals.   Or was it the Worlds?  Talk about an incredible field!  We had the chance to interview Nath Outteridge,  Tom Slingsby and Iain Jensen.  A huge thanks to the guys for taking the time before a nationals race to talk to us along with a couple of others who we interviewed (Beau interviewed us).  I have been involved with their Olympic Campaigns as a sponsor and friend and it is great to see them jumping in a class they love and out on the water.   Head over to the Sailing Chix website where we will be loading the interviews for you to listen too.  The interview with Tom in particular who we had more time to talk to is fantastic.  Thanks Tom!  You really did sum up what sailing is all about and it was great to hear.  Congrats to Scott Babbage for taking out the Aus Title and Pete Burling the Overall Win.

The guys now leave Australia and head to San Francisco for the America’s Cup.  What an exciting year ahead for them.  Jumping straight out of Olympic campaigns which lead to Gold into campaigns in the oldest competition in sport the America’s Cup.  I can not wait to follow their journeys.

The Sailing Chix and I finally sat down last week to have a very long and overdue meeting.  Talk about big plans for the year ahead, do you think we can fit it all in?  Have you tuned in yet to listen to our show?  Stay tuned for big updates!  We are extremely excited to be on this adventure together.

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!