Air Canada delivered most of the remaining crew today, only Rab is left in the land of moose and maple syrup- he arrives tomorrow. Air Canada should really be one of our sponsors – they are really doing a good job in training our crew for sleep deprivation, which will benefit them in the race. They do this by simply ignoring the pre booked and purchased comfy seats, and slotting them randomly around the plane and in some cases I’m told, in the overhead bins.
Anyhows they arrived and we all head down to the boat like excited schoolchildren. The boat is something else, very well prepared by the amazing Brad, and when unleashed from the dock, became a nervous racehorse. We ran through various jibs and two chutes on this 3 hour introduction sail, and we got a sense of what we had in store. It will be fast, wet, noisy, and did I mention wet. This will be less a sail and more a swim to Tasmania.
As the crew is a mixture of Canadians, Americans, Australians, and an Italian and a Brit/Bermudian, language is a challenge.
Tomorrow the real learning begins.
We weren’t allowed on the boat until 11AM as Brad had a ton of stuff to do and we were just in the way. You know the notices at mechanics garages that says the rate is $75 an hour or $100 an hour if you want to watch! He and Disco knocked a lot down. Boat is coming together.
We sailed at 1PM out the Heads and set the strut… I prefer to call it a hard-hauler. We set the J3 and tried various angles and then added a staysail. Beautiful sailing! A new Ed joined us and Hugo as well! Sam the man was back out and Giancarlo drove much of the inside area. Carla was a runner.
We paced Brad’s dad sailing a Sydney 60 and were faster which was fun. We headed in by 4PM and dropped sails across from the yacht club in an area that was FILLED with party boats and barges. Tons of folks looking to swim with the sharks ?
Getting ready for the crew party, gotta run, ciao for now!
Joe stirring Raffa’s risotto! From last night.
Not sure about this one!
Brad and Sam loading the square top main headboard for the days sailing!
Carla hiding in the shade!
One of many party barges in full swing! Sailing down wind of these smelled great, hopefully they couldn’t smell us ?
Nic is coming sailing with us in the next day or two, Joe is selling helming positions ?
Hot and humid and overcast, but still melted…
Great to meet Ed Cesare, he and Jay hung out and sorted all things Nav. Joe and I butchered various tasks but the list is shorter. Brad sorted through major stuff and Disco and Giancarlo set the fittings in the carbo mast for the reaching strut, a big job. Billy from North Sails spent the morning adding chafe patches and other fixes and adjustments to our upwind sails.
Never made it out sailing as the wind crapped and we had too much stuff to do anyways.
The Clipper boats started arriving, 22 crew each, good golly! We walked downwind of one and oh my, must have been a tough ride.
Pictures to follow: Giancarlo and Disco set the track for the reaching strut on the carbo mast; our new cutlery, a spork… wait for it… titanium; the Clipper yachts have lots of netting to catch helmspersons washing overboard while Joe has gone with simple crew redundancy; Raffa is cooking at the main house tonight with bruschetta, major league prawns and risotto!
Crew party on for tomorrow, sorry some of our Novi riffraff will miss it!
Today was another awesome day dodging a 470 regatta, a Finn regatta, a Laser regatta, a 49er regatta, and of course the usual ferries and tour boats, cruise ships and general yachtie folks including others trying to practice. Sailing in Sydney Harbour is like a bad chess game trying to avoid contact, perhaps 3D chess is more accurate. Anyhow, we survived. We hadn’t seen the J5 or A5 yet and it was blowing so we threw in a single reef and the J5 performed well… will be good in a blow.
Then we dodged our way through the millions of other boats and gybed south towards the bridge and hoisted an A5. This Sail has got the be 2oz cloth and very heavy but Brad says in 30 knots that will be the call. As we headed south the winds puffed more and we started to fly. SI much power and Lindy just levels out and become hyper-wheel sensitive. We just about wiped out once while Captain Joe was at the wheel but he managed to hit 17.5 knots. Big grins all round. By now we were running out of race track and the kite had to come down. Joe returned to his normal pit position and promptly dropped the kite in the tide (as Brad likes to call the sea). No damage other than a salty sail and unfortunately no shrimp for the Barbie ?
Then back to port to work through the list… a cold beer helped with the heat, it was strength zapping! Thankfully Tori drove us back to the house to avoid breakheart hill, a real killer, then a swim and other libations. All fine!
Pics are Captain Joe hitting 17.5 knots, Joe up the rig, a picture of our VERY expensive sprit being protected by a 1$ grocery bag (we are taking up a lot of marina space!)
Around the world sailors are searching for sailing gear, contemplating a last dash to the shops to buy some more “essentials”, and winding up work all ready for a long haul flight to Sydney. That is apart from the Triple Lindy crew, who are busy emptying bags back into drawers, and considering what to take along that can fit into the space of a small packet of biscuits (or cookies for those linguistically challenged – which is all of them bar one). The new light weight Lindy, means no extra gear, no spare engine, no extra pencil for the navigator, and a strip search before boarding to ensure no one is bringing a spare shirt.
I suspect the first thing we’ll do when getting to the boat will be uncovering hidey holes for smuggling. These will already be filled with Sean and Jay’s gear, but no matter, pirates will win out in the end.
Let the journeys begin (phase 2 anyway)….