Greetings all from balmy Melbourne! We promised updates on our progress, so here is what is the first of hopefully 3 or 4 updates of our adventures down here to keep you all in the know and possibly amused!
Six of the Seven of us arrived into 13 degrees, isolated showers and the possibility of hail (or so the weather man says) yesterday Melbourne here we come! Met with David (husband of Rose) from Enginue who were kind enough to lend us all a second set of foul weather gear (mighty handy!) and filled us in on the comings and goings and lots of tips on sailing Port Phillip Bay. Then off to St Kilda Yacht Squadron steeped in history and fantastic location/view of the bay to Meet Ian the owner of the 34 ft Dubouis Spellbound who has been kind enough to loan us. Had a chance to walk all the way out along the pier to the marina to have a look and get a brief run down on procedures.
Set out for a sail today in unusual westerly winds up to 20kts with Ian, cloaked in foul weather gear and got a taste of what we are in for the next 3 days. "Madness" came to mind a couple of times whilst being blasted with waves on the high side, but all excited with anticipation about what is in store the next couple of days. Got a bit of spinnaker action happening before heading back in to spend the rest of the afternoon defrosting.
The Briefing kicked off at the club at 18:30 with us girls causing a sensation in our tropical shirts, but apparently they all could tell we were from FNQ by our tans! Everyone was fantastic and we received a big cheer as the first team to compete from Queensland in the Regatta's 20 year history. A photo of a bikini clad crew also happened to somehow make its way into the 20 years of memorabilia on display at the club! (we are still trying to find/ hunt the culprit!)
There are 21 boats competing, with a team from SA and us being the only 2 teams competing from outside of Vic. The courses are short sausage courses, 2 a day for three days, but we are anticipating they will try and fit a third in tomorrow as they are expecting the breeze to ease by Monday. The AMS results will be posted after each race and available on the Yacht Clubs website http://www.rmys.com.au/http://www.rmys.com.au/ . The PHS will be calculated after the first three races and then applied to the first three races, so we will not know how we are going until Saturday or Sunday interesting. Lead up racing to the AWKR last weekend saw 2 recalls so it warranted a mention at the brief that a black flag will be at the ready this weekend.
Early start tomorrow as we would like to get in a bit of practice (setting off at 7:30 for 10 am start) with our crew member from Townsville, Ellie, arriving tonight. (Ellie travelled up to Port Douglas to train with us both weekends of Clipper Cup)
Day 1: Saw us hit the water by 8 after a hearty breakfast at the club overlooking the water. Wind picked up from 8kts to 13kts and back down again. Sky: grey and then some! Crossed start line mid fleet of first race and managed to hold to cross the finish line approx 8th or 9th . Not a great deal to report as we were ironing out minor issues getting used to a different boat. The sun did however manage to greet us towards the end – hooray! PHS position 14th in fleet
Second race saw us miss the start completely and a snapped car mid race delayed us a little, but managed to maintain our position mid fleet. Crossed the line appox 7th or 8th by close to half a boat length. PHS position 10th
They decided to go a third race, but delayed the start to wait for the wind to swing which didn’t help the wind chill factor. The start found us in top position, end nearest the start boat, and totally nailed it when they general recalled – spewing!!!!! Were well warmed up and on a roll by then. Fantastic rounding at the hitch mark saw us nail the spinnaker set on the first leg and gained two positions as others were delayed getting poles/ spinnakers up etc. It was awesome! Smooth sailing saw us get across the line approx 6th. PHS position 8th. Now 10th overall PHS. 8th overall in AMS.
Lots of congratulations and well done by many people, ‘professional’ was mentioned by one chap on the wharf, and another came up and said it was good to see the boat doing so well up in the middle of the fleet. Ian (Owner) seemed pretty pleased especially about particular boats we overtook. We felt a lot more confident by the final race and are looking forward to sinking our teeth into it again tomorrow!
Thanks for all the well wishes, we are doing our mighty best to make you all proud!
Watch this space............
The girls from Spellbound! Belinda, Tina, Iseta, Tracey, Me, Qamar & Ellie
Day 2: We started the day sending a gleeful (she loves this sort of thing) Qamar up the mast on the way out to the start line to retrieve the main halyard. Winds had dropped to 5-10kts. They delayed the start of the first race by approx 15 mins. Started well on starboard only to have a situation with the port jib winch which delayed the first tack. (Sorry Ian the parts have been ordered!) We sailed a good race and crossed the line 11th before the winds dropped down to 1.2kts. The last boat not completing the race in time. Results were radioed through with a topsy turvey result – boats running close to last yesterday, taking top 5 places today.
The soft winds allowed us to have a pleasant lunch break, and delayed the second start by half an hour before winds picked up to 10kts and remained consistently at 6kts for the remainder of the race. We sailed a better race and still crossed the line 11th - PHS is 16th. Overall results are still unavailable as there was a protest. Results are very interesting with a blanket being able to be thrown over the field – and very encouraging to see where we are ranked in an extremely experienced (and very competitive environment) for a first go........ a certain Sydney 32 would cane down here!
Results: http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/results/rmys/2010/club/AWKR/series.htm Signing off for now.......... sand in my eyes. Watch this space...............
Day 3: We traded the wind today for the sunshine!
Gorgeous day – sun was shining............. 2 ½ hours delay on the start whilst we waited for the wind to come in on our glass out.
In the meantime we rafted up with the crew from SA. Two of whom sailed on Spellbound last year. Two also Sailed with Doug on Magic at Clipper Cup last year. Boredom saw the eager foredeckies hoist the kite to dry it out and then also sent each up the mast to ‘watch for wind’. Much to the owners concern on one of the spectator boats not far away, until he realised Qamar’s 15+ mins up there meant that she was actually checking things out and not fixing something else we had broken!!!!!!
Started well, mid line, with two of the top boats (Tigris and Silk) on the wrong side of the line facing the wrong way trying to get back to start the race. Crossed a number of starboard boats on a port tack and a fair bit of congestion at the top mark. A jybe set spinnaker (much noticed and remarked upon) at the hitch mark saw us out of everyone else’s way and overtaking a number of boats to round the bottom mark in 5th. Unfortunately the winds had shifted and the jybe set the second time was not much in our favour. Crossed the line approx 10th.
Results tonight........watch this space, but don’t hold your breath for update tonight – the possibility of expected letting hair down and partying the night away.........!!!!!!!
Watch this space..................!
Presentation Dinner last night (14 June) at the club. 164 Entrants from 21 boats, and boat owners etc made for a very cosy evening.
The top boats cleaned up, however there will be a silver ice bucket (rather appropriate) in the trophy cabinet with Belinda and the crew from FNQ’s name on it for the ‘Sportsmanship Award’ – apparently training in your bikinis is held in high regard around here!
Overall results for us: Placed 8th in AMS after the sixth race – 10th after a dropped race. 16th in PHS after race 6 – 20th after race dropped
We tried our best and had a ball down here. We would like to thank you all for your support, well wishes and generosity. See you all in warm FNQ soon.
Signing out on behalf of The team from Twisted Sisters
Mickey Ink
Read more in Sail World report.
