June 18, 2013June 18, 2013 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.

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.

May 26, 2013May 27, 2013 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.

April 10, 2013April 10, 2013 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.

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!

858063_10151247469366721_418321516_o

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.

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!

July 3, 2012June 23, 2013 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…

June 4, 2012 Melissa Yeomans

Getting into this umpire stuff

On Saturday I headed over to the CYCA for the Navionics Match Racing Regatta as an umpire. Or should I say rookie umpire. I am not sure when I turn into an actual umpire just yet? Learning as I go… Maybe when I buy my whistle this week?

Talk about terrible conditions to try and learn! So much rain it is hard to see and breeze shifting like nothing else plus holes so big appearing out of no where! Not the best conditions for competitors or officials… It was great though to learn a little more and witness close hand some match racing. I think I have a lot more reading to do before I attend the next one though! Any tips????

One of the best things about heading to the CYCA was catching up with an old friend Nicky Souter who was even colder than I was. Someone forgot it wasn’t summer in Aus… Or maybe she was hopeful? Any way I donated my booties to her as I knew she would freeze in just thongs even with wet weather pants. It is one thing being on a boat hard at work sailing. It is something else all together sitting around watching others sail! You get so cold so fast not working a mainsheet or kite sheet or helm.

Driving home in clothes that were soaking wet from the walk to my car with Nicky was just a little crazy… It took a few hours, a hot shower, a couple of glasses of Red wine and a hot dinner to come good. I did have to laugh when Nicky asked if I minded her getting in my car when she was so wet! I just said “look at me”! Two drowned rats… I don’t think we have ever sailed together when it wasn’t a nice day! Maybe that tells us we are better off sailing than umpiring haha.

There is a little story on the CYCA website.

Seriously though any tips or websites to check out to learn more would be greatly appreciated. I might watch some youtube videos of match racing too! I only ever did a little at the CYCA on their Friday afternoon training sessions. Years ago so it is all a memory…

April 30, 2012April 30, 2012 Melissa Yeomans

Open & Secondary Schools Team Racing Championship 2012

On the weekend I experienced an Umpire boat for the first time. I have done plenty of time on RIBS for Rescue boats and also as Race Management. This was different altogether and a great experience. On Saturday it was a wonderful surprise to see Adventures of a Sailor Girl (Nic Douglass) suddenly appear on the Start Boat.

Saturday saw not much wind which was great from my perspective as I got a handle of how to do things and when driving how and where to position the RIB. This was a false sense of security though as the breeze well and truly kicked in for Sunday and saw all the umpires on their toes. WOW is all I can really say! How to digest what I experienced is the current question.

Sunday was amazing. Watching the skill of the competitors in the breeze was fantastic.

I’d like to thank all the Umpires and those on the race course for welcoming me and allowing me to tag along and learn. Looks like I will be doing a little more of this in the future!

A big thanks to Kingsley Forbes-Smith for suggesting I give this a go. A big thanks to my close friends and family who have supported me trying something new as well. Thanks for all your positive words of encouragement!

April 25, 2012April 25, 2012 Melissa Yeomans

Trying something new!

This weekend I am trying something new! It is no secret that sailing and me at the moment don’t go so well together. Hyper mobile reduces what your joints can take and tightens up your muscles around your joints. So when I sail I weaken these muscles and can then find myself unable to stand up straight. Not a good look although funny for those who got to see me like this the last time I sailed a Laser. Due to not being able to sail as much I have had to look at what else I can do to remain on the water. Being on the water and involved in Sailing is a part of who I am and have always been.

Last week doing the Powerboat handling course was just the start of that!

This weekend I try something new for the very first time! I am getting in a RIB with an Umpire to learn at the YNSW Teams Racing Championship 2012! It is being held at Woollahra Sailing Club over the weekend and is likely to be a huge learning experience.

Back when I use to crew rather than skipper, from a young age I was able to quote not just rule wordings but rule numbers. Crewing onboard SSV the Adams 10m we won a National Title in 2002. From the middle of the boat not only did I run the pit but I also was primary Breeze caller, rules guru etc. Passing on all the information I could to my father who was doing Mainsheet onboard the boat. It was a real family atmosphere.

Melissa Yeomans

Sailing, it's a way of life.

umpire