royal melbourne yacht squadron 2009-2010 - Yachting Victoria ...

ROYAL MELBOURNE YACHT SQUADRON 2009-2010 

1

Contents 

Commodore 2009-2010 3 

Commodore 2008-2009 5 

Commodore 2007-2008 3 

Club Captain’s Report 2007-2008 8 

Club Person of the Year 9 

A Tribute To Past Commodore Marshall Hawes 10 

Heading for Geelong 11 

St Kilda Safe Harbour – Full Steam Ahead! 12 

2009 Australian Women’s Keel Boat Regatta 14 

RMYS Yachts 16 

RMYS... a very social club 18 

Mrs Overnewton Races to Launceston - 2008 20 

Tribute to Frank Konkoly 22 

Commodores Dinner 23 

First Buy a Boat Then Bring It Home 24 

RMYS 25 Year Membership Dinner 34 

RMYS Yacht Register 36 

Capricorn III Sails the Pacific 40 

It’s All In The Name 42 

Hobart and All That Jazz 43 

Trophy Winners 44 

Editorial 

This magazine came about because of the contributors 

and, particularly Ralph May who has been responsible for 

the design. Thank you Ralph for your work and encouragement. 

I thank the General Manager, Peter Dawson, the Office 

Staff who provided information and assistance, the members 

of committee, all of whom gave me support. 

While thanks go to all the contributors, special mention 

must be made of our Club Historian, Bert Ferris who provided 

a number of articles, some of which are being held over for 

later editions. 

Any future editions will need your support so if you have 

any stories or photos associated with RMYS, yachting or 

your boat, please send d them to the office. 

The arrangement by which recent editions of “Sea Breeze” 

were published is no longer available so we are trialling 

an electronic version. Therefore we need to know your 

thoughts on the format and presentation. Please pass 

them on via the General Manager or the office. 

Terry Swalwell 

2

Commodore 2009-2010 

Stuart Tait 

2010…….. 

In this edition Past Commodores Ken 

Simpson and John Hart have provided 

perspectives on the recent history 

of the Squadron. I thought I would 

provide some thoughts on the present 

and future. 

This year has been a transitional 

year, consolidating on the sometime 

difficult work of past Commodores 

and Committees. For a second year 

in a row we have achieved a strong 

financial position and witnessed a 9 

per cent growth in membership. We are 

anticipating another surplus next year. 

Apart from the obvious financial relief, 

these three years are been significant 

in the positive change in culture of the 

Committee and the Squadron. 

I first noted this when we interviewed 

for the position of General Manager 

and appointed Peter Dawson. Many 

of those interviewed made comment 

on the “return of the Squadron”, 

expressed through its renovation and 

plans for the new marina. Secondly, 

the mood at member meetings is a 

far cry to the frustrations that were 

expressed a number of years ago. 

Members discuss and question rather 

than accuse and demand, reflective of 

a more confident feeling around the 

club. 

Change can be disruptive and the 

most significant change over the past 

few years has been the appointment of 

our caterer food&desire. Initially there 

were the renovations, particularly the 

reorientation of the members’ bar. 

There are still members who found 

comfort in sitting pub-like against the 

bar and remain attached to the old bar. 

Personally I like the new orientation, 

as I feel it opens up the views to the 

water and provides more table seating. 

Thankfully, I have only heard positive 

comments about the Harbour Room 

renovations. 

Overall the financial return from our 

catering arrangements has been very 

positive. The Harbour Room is utilised 

more than at any time during the past 

10 years and, just as importantly, the 

cost of running the Members Bar is 

not borne by the Squadron. 

Members have commented on the 

increase in the price of drinks and 

food and the level of service offered 

by food&desire. It would be fair to 

say that food&desire have also had to 

adapt to change. I know food&desire 

have the members’ interests at heart 

and have made changes to staff and 

positions to ensure that members’ 

services receive more attention. This 

has included offering a broader range 

of meals, happy hour for drinks and 

special event nights. Given this, I feel 

confident members will experience 

improved service and will take 

advantage on what is on offer. 

Change will continue. We have 

engaged PodBuild to develop a 

building Masterplan. The Masterplan 

will provide a narrative and proposed 

schedule of improvements to the 

building. These improvements are 

dependent on available finance, 

permits and members’ comments. 

But let me indulge and give you my 

considered view and invite discussion 

and comment on the future of the 

Squadron and our clubhouse. For 

the purpose of this article I use the 

affirmative “will” rather than indecisive 

“may”. I suggest two broad stages of 

development. 

Stage 1 will consist mainly of internal 

changes to maximise training, improve 

office space and to open the roof 

space. Also included in Stage 1 will be 

the extension of first floor decking. 

The office space will be extended into 

the Wet Bar to relocate the Managers 

office and the Training office. A retail 

area and more accessible office 

space will be fitted out where the 

existing Manager office is located. 

Opposite, where the disabled toilet is 

currently located, will be converted to 

an office for our caterers. This office 

will protrude slightly into the men’s 

change room. 

The existing training offices in the spar 

room will be demolished to allow small 

boat storage, clearing the existing 

storage from the yard. The Wet Bar 

will be converted to a training room 

and include a disabled toilet. The bar 

in the Wet bar will be demolished to 

make way for a toilet and Training and 

Manager offices. The race office will 

remain with soundproofing installed 

around the refrigeration units. This 

ground floor area will be the domain 

of sailing and sailing activities. The 

Squadron will receive increased 

financial return through greater 

utilisation of the renovated Wet Bar 

and higher retail sales by offering 

and presenting a greater range of 

merchandise. Storing the small boats 

under cover will reduce maintenance. 

On the second (roof) floor the existing 

caterer office space will be converted 

to toilets and a bride room. The kitchen 

will be reinstated and a servery area 

will be installed next to the lift lobby. 

Access to the roof will be enhanced 

by making the internal staircase 

accessible through doors leading 

into the Harbour Room, kitchen and 

out onto the west facing decking. In 

addition, the rear fire escape will be 

commissioned to allow public access 

to the roof from the car park and the 

Harbour Room. Robust and waterproof 

flooring will be laid onto the roof above 

the Harbour Room. Perspex will be 

positioned on the rails to inhibit the 

wind. Shade will be stretched across 

the roof area. 

With these renovations the stage 

is now set to opening up the roof. 

Possibilities include establishing a 

daytime café during summer with 

3

members of the public accessing the 

roof space via the back stairs and lift. 

In this instance, members will benefit 

through having ongoing provision of 

food and coffee, at a members rate, on 

the roof. On Wednesday twilights and 

other Squadron functions the roof will 

be available exclusive to the Squadron. 

food&desire will have access to the 

roof for functions and weddings. The 

Squadron will benefit through the 

increased revenue from leasing the 

roof space for functions and share in 

the return from the sale of food and 

beverages. 

Other additions will include an 

expansion of the female change rooms 

and further renovations of the Library. 

The Library and adjoining portico will 

be available exclusive for member 

use for private functions. The change 

rooms will gradually be upgraded to 

provide better facilities for both men 

and women and possibly include 

facilities such as a sauna and gym. 

Two significant renovations will be: an 

extension of the southern portico to 

extend westward along the southern 

wall of the Members Bar; and the 

expansion of the west deck area to 

the north west corner of the building. 

Members will have exclusive access 

to the extended southern portico from 

the Members bar. The expanded west 

facing decking will help to alleviate 

crowding and provide space for storage 

and chandlery services underneath. 

The Squadron will benefit through 

expanded Member areas and revenue 

from leasing the expanded decking 

area. 

Stage two assumes that the yard 

has been relocated to the isthmus 

as described in stage 4 of the St 

Kilda Harbour Concept Plan. The 

decking on the west side of the 

building will be extended along the 

length of the building and adjoin the 

southern portico. There will now be a 

continuous first floor deck extending 

from the northwest corner around the 

west and south sides of the building 

to the southeast corner. Members 

and guests would then be able to sit 

comfortably, taking in uninterrupted 

views of sunsets across the bay. 

The back (west facing) of the building 

now becomes the front. A new 

entrance is located where the current 

winch house is located. The yard is 

cleared and lawn is planted with picnic 

tables and BBQs installed. Along the 

south boundary are erected offices for 

youth training, marina administration 

and storage for marina carts and 

equipment lockers. Water storage is 

sunk into the ground. The Squadron 

will benefit through leasing office 

space and increasing membership, 

attracted to the improved facilities. 

Finally the second (roof) storey is fully 

redeveloped, replacing all current 

structures on the roof. This area will be 

multipurpose and include facilities for 

functions and member services. The 

Squadron will benefit through leasing 

and share in the returns of the new 

functions areas. Increased space for 

members will then cater to increase 

membership in excess of 1200. 

The Masterplan and the new marina 

development are integral to the 

ongoing sustainability of the Squadron. 

Current financial modelling, based 

on conservative projections for the 

occupancy rate of the new marina, 

indicates the squadron will continue 

to return healthy surpluses into the 

future. If these projections are correct 

then the Squadron will be in a strong 

position to develop the clubhouse 

similar to that described above. There 

are many ifs and buts before this form 

of development can occur, and your 

Committee will continue to manage 

the Squadrons’ finances responsibly. 

My vision, stated here to stimulate 

the debate, may be achievable, 

and incremental development, as 

described, just might make it possible. 

Personally, I cannot wait! 

Stuart Tait 

Commodore 

4

Commodore 2008-2009 

Ken Simpson 

This year’s nineteenth Australian 

Women’s Keelboat Regatta was an 

outstanding success with 149 sailors 

from three states competing in 21 

keelboats. Royal Melbourne Yacht 

Squadron is totally committed to the 

development of women in sailing and 

look forward to next year’s twentieth 

anniversary of the event. Thanks must 

go to the team of dedicated volunteers 

and Squadron staff for their untiring 

eff orts in organising and promoting 

this great event. 

Commodores Report 2008 2009 

I feel proud and privileged to have been 

your Commodore for the second time; 

it was a challenging but satisfying and 

rewarding experience for me. 

I believe it was an exceptional year 

for the Squadron, with our member 

services and facilities much improved 

together with a strong financial 

performance. This was achieved 

through the commitment and hard 

work of the people on the various 

committees, the volunteers, our 

contractors Downunder Marine, 

food&desire and more recently, 

Windshift Performance Marketing , 

who now manage the Royal Melbourne 

Sail Training Academy. In particular our 

new general manager and his staff , all 

fantastic people, are delivering quality 

services to Squadron members 

My work was made that much easier 

by the efforts of General Committee. 

Although we were down on numbers, 

their achievements have been 

outstanding, I’m sure you will join with 

me in congratulating them on a job 

well done. The Squadron’s future is in 

very safe hands. 

Good sailing, 

Ken Simpson 

Most of you would have heard about 

the success of St Kilda Safe Harbour 

Ltd in gaining DSE, Parks Victoria and 

now CoPP approval to move forward 

with our floating marina; a major step 

forward in the Squadron’s history. As 

club members we should congratulate 

and thank all SSH directors, pledge 

holders, commodores and committees 

of the day for their efforts over the 

past ten years to reach this milestone 

achievement. 

5

Commodore 2007-2008 

John Hart 

The Squadron has undergone many 

remarkable changes over the three 

years from 2005 to 2008 and continues 

to face further challenges. As a Flag 

Officer serving in the roles of Rear 

Commodore, Vice Commodore and 

Commodore, I have been asked to 

reflect and briefly summarise some of 

the major events over that period for 

this issue of Sea Breeze. 

Materially, the Squadron advanced 

considerably during these three years 

achieving minor and major successes 

in various areas, some obvious and 

some often unrecognised. Perhaps 

the easiest way to address the task of 

noting significant changes is to view 

them in roughly chronological order. 

One of the first changes to the 

Squadron’s facilities during this 

period was the installation of a 

wireless link from the clubhouse to 

the starting tower. Most members are 

probably unaware of the small screen 

backed antenna on the building’s 

second story southwest corner that 

connects to a similar antenna on the 

shore side of the tower landing. This 

connection provides full Squadron 

Internet facilities, particularly the 

ability to monitor weather patterns. 

If necessary, any weather warnings 

may then be radio relayed to Squadron 

members. 

With the help of Yachting Victoria, 

we applied for and received a grant 

from Marine Safety Victoria for a 

“support vessel for junior sailing” that 

culminated with buying Bulldog. More 

obvious at that time was the upgrading 

of the existing television set with the 

donation of a set top box, provision of a 

new relocated and re-cabled antenna 

that provided members with more 

robust television programs. 

The marina structure underwent 

significant maintenance, well over a 

dozen piles were replaced or restored, 

largely under the main walkway and 

‘A’ and ‘B’ rows. Resurfacing the main 

walkway and several of the ‘fingers’ 

followed. New warps, springs, shackles 

and boarding platforms were installed. 

More recently, other facilities were 

added including fire extinguishers, life 

rings and ladders – facilities that are 

often missing at other yacht clubs. 

Having provided improved berthing 

facilities for member’s yachts, the 

Squadron has enabled members to 

maintain their craft by refurbishing the 

slipway back to a 12 tonne capacity. 

Although this was built under the 

budgeted amount, it did conform 

to the normal sailing traditions by 

taking longer than planned to achieve. 

However the Squadron now has a fully 

functional yard with upgraded cradles, 

a replacement tractor and cleaned 

winch with a new cable. 

Other advances include regular 

maintenance of the Squadron’s 6 local 

support vessels. The ramp from Pier 

Road to the beach, constructed by 

the City of Port Phillip, makes beach 

access much easier for our junior 

sailors. 

The most obvious changes in the 

Squadron’s land based facilities 

centre on the dramatic refurbishment 

of the Harbour Room and the Olympic 

room with its reoriented members’ 

bar. This change was initiated when 

Epicure (Spotless), who leased the 

Harbour room for their functions, 

gave the Squadron 9 months notice of 

their intention to leave. This resulted 

in some 2 years of Committee activity 

to establish a replacement source of 

revenue and the difficult decision was 

also made to terminate the existing 

member’s catering services provided by 

Barry and Sue Tuckley. After extensive 

negotiation a long term contract was 

made with “Food & Desire” to replace 

Epicure and provide the Squadron’s 

food and beverage services. “Food 

& Desire” now ranks the “Harbour 

Room” with their “Carousel” as one of 

Melbourne’s prime restaurants. The 

Harbour Room has always provided 

one of the three main sources of 

revenue for the Squadron. Thus the 

refurbishment, primarily financed 

by “Food & Desire”, is a commercial 

operation for both parties. 

The other main sources of Squadron 

revenue are the members and the 

marina with its associated facilities – 

in that order of priority. Therefore the 

Squadron’s focus is on attracting and 

retaining members that, in turn, leads 

to supporting members, their yachts 

and their crews. 

Administratively, this period has 

seen some significant turnovers in 

Squadron employees with different 

yard and marina managers, office 

managers and staff. During this period 

the General Committee considered a 

revised 5 year Business Plan complete 

with Vision and Mission statements, 

Strategy Plan, Constitution and even 

a formal organization structure with 

broadly defined roles for Flag Officers, 

Committee members and employees. 

Other matters that have been 

discussed by the General Committee 

ranged from a Sailing Strategy and 

specific Regatta planning through 

to a Squadron Asset Register and 

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 

for monitoring staff performance 

and progress toward achieving these 

stated Squadron’s objectives. 

6

Communication with members has 

been through the weekly electronic 

newsletter – E- Breeze. This medium 

also provided space for members to 

raise their issues and pose possible 

solutions. As some members did not 

have access to the Internet and e-mail, 

this communication medium was also 

printed and mailed plus copies made 

available in the member’s bar for those 

who sought this information. 

Many words may be written about 

Squadron sailing and Squadron 

yachts – the fundamental reason 

for the Squadron’s existence. These 

activities range from twilight club 

races through inter-club regattas and 

ocean racing successes. Even down to 

a “Frostbite Regatta” sailed in Sabots 

where the RMYS team won back the 

trophy – an aged bottle of Yarra water! 

The Squadron’s sailing activities are 

a very extensive subject for quite a 

different article. For this overview, it is 

sufficient to comment, without naming 

competitors and their yachts, that the 

Squadron yachts continued to uphold 

the Squadron’s reputation in the 

racing scene. The Squadron’s flagship 

events, particularly the Women’s 

Keelboat Regatta and the Big Bay 

Challenge were well supported and 

well organised by the Squadron’s 

special ‘operations’ groups. 

Apart from competitive racing, the 

Squadron has actively supported 

activities for cruising and juniors. The 

cruising group was well attended with a 

large number of yachts participating in 

many successful functions, both within 

and outside the Bay. Junior sailing 

was also well attended each Sunday 

morning with many parents as well 

as Squadron volunteers contributing, 

primarily using the Squadron and 

school owned Extreme dinghies. 

Also several schools migrated their 

students to the Squadron’s premises 

due to the drought affecting their usual 

sailing facilities. 

Socially, Squadron functions such as 

the season Openings, Presentation 

nights and special lunches for 

Grand Final day, Melbourne Cup and 

Christmas, have been very successful. 

The Presentation evening held at 

Dickens Manor due to the Squadron’s 

building renovations, proved particularly 

notable. The Manor was an early 

home of the Hawes family who, 

in past years, have contributed 2 

Commodores to the Squadron. Their 

family was represented that night by 

3 generations and Past Commodore 

Marshall Hawes presented the 

Charles Marshall Trophy. At the 2008 

dinner for Past Commodores, I was 

delighted to welcome every living Past 

Commodore – some 15 - with only one 

exception. It was very gratifying to see 

their continued interest and support of 

the Squadron. 

Many detailed technical issues have 

also been addressed during this time. 

Probably the most provocative was the 

stray electrical currents in the marina 

that were suspected of causing 

unwanted electrolysis. The electrical 

circuits around the marina were 

checked out and other yacht clubs in 

the northern end of the Bay consulted. 

From further investigations it became 

quite clear that direct currents (DC), 

potentially the main external cause 

of electrolysis, could flow through the 

normal 3 wire mains supply, when not 

prevented by an isolating transformer. 

A paper was then prepared, largely 

based on the actions of the Royal 

Brighton Yacht Club, explaining and 

endorsing the existing Squadron 

ruling (Rule 8). This paper was 

presented to members and posted on 

the Squadron’s Internet web site. 

The Squadron continues to face 

significant future issues. The 

predominating challenge is progressing 

the St Kilda Safe Harbour now that 

“Concept Plans” have been publicly 

promulgated and a Planning Permit 

issued. This project still demands 

significant funding and a myriad of 

details to be identified, defined and 

resolved. 

Other yacht clubs also face these and 

other broader issues and as a Flag 

Officer I have had the opportunity 

to meet and discuss these matters 

with members of kindred clubs as 

well as with Yachting Victoria and 

Yachting Australia representatives. 

The Squadron is a vital and respected 

part of this wider sailing community 

and I was therefore invited to attend 

many functions such as the Australian 

Yachting Awards in 2006 organised 

by Yachting Australia and the UKSA 

where, at the Gipsy Moth Royal Gala 

Dinner, I was introduced to Princess 

Anne, The Princess Royal, and other 

senior dignitaries. I am grateful that 

I was able to contribute as a Squadron 

representative, even in a very small 

part, to this larger community. 

In concluding, I must reiterate the 

obvious - the Squadron like other clubs, 

progresses from the efforts of those 

members who generously, tirelessly 

volunteer their considerable personal 

energies and skills, and often at great 

personal sacrifice, to benefit all. It is 

to these people that I humbly pay my 

deepest regard and respect. Many, 

although not all, of these people are 

yacht owners and their crews. I believe 

these people seek somewhere safe and 

economic to berth and maintain their 

yachts, actively participate in racing 

and cruising plus enjoy the company of 

their friends in a congenial clubhouse 

environment. Long may the Squadron 

continue to provide such amenities for 

its members. 

7

Club Captain’s Report 2007-2008 

Phil Grossi 

Life is full of surprises and none 

more so than being elected Club 

Captain of our Squadron in 2007. 

Our Commodore John Hart, Vice 

Commodore Stuart Tait, and Rear 

Commodore Chris Coghlan were 

faced with many challenges including 

slipway refurbishment, Harbour Room 

lease, Installation of a lift, and St Kilda 

Safe Harbour nearing fruition. It was a 

great pleasure being able to serve on 

the committee as a Flag Officer in a 

year that will be remembered as one 

of significant change. Thanks to all 

members of sailing committee who 

gave me their unconditional support. 

Junior Sailing 

The continued tireless support of 

volunteers enabled junior sailing to 

maintain an enthusiastic group of 

young sailors. Our more experienced 

junior sailors assisted by keen 

parents, continued sail training in our 

classic Cadet dinghies year round in 

preparation for the annual Stonehaven 

Regatta be held at King Island’s Grassy 

Harbour an Inaugural event for the 

Island. My appreciation to all parents 

and volunteers for maintaining and 

refurbishing “Mollie G”, “Ayden” and 

“Cainie” to a seaworthy standard. 

Community Sailing 

This initiative by the previous sailing 

committee was well attended by 

Sacred Heart Mission and many thanks 

to James Fahey and his beautiful 

yacht “Shenandoah V” and crew for 

their tireless effort. All clients from 

Sacred Heart mission benefited from 

this special experience and we were 

grateful for all volunteers who were 

able to assist. 

Racing 

The core racing calendar continued 

with some additional days slotted in 

due to extended daylight saving times. 

The year saw one of our largest fleet 

attendances for some time for our 

Big Bay Challenge. The increase in 

numbers was as a direct result of ORCV 

becoming involved and incorporating 

our Big Bay Challenge in to their 

latitude series. My personal thanks 

are extended to Richard McGarvie for 

facilitating this event through ORCV. 

Cruising 

The cruising division continued in 

strength due to the tireless past 

efforts of Barry and Lindy Scott who 

relinquished the leadership reins to a 

new enthusiastic group led by Geoffrey 

Chambers, Max Nankervis and Dick 

Warhurst 

Womens Sailing 

The Australian Women’s Keelboat 

Regatta was an outstanding success 

conducted under the leadership of 

Linda Goldsmith and her dedicated 

team of volunteers. Interstate teams 

made for a high profile event and 

this will be even more evident in 

future years. Again many thanks to 

all volunteers ashore and afloat, your 

efforts made women’s sailing a more 

high profile event for future years. 

Phil Grossi 

8

Club Person of the Year 2008 

Tony Warren 

Club Person of the Year 2009 

Janet Dean 

Dracinstik rew ib actshoin trofnut. 

Ees obser rovid ecishlin efino ould 

ethoif irect inessest eachew cicl akin 

neddith catons yethest erabi drehen 

semanif lits tub orthjo dley dtuj ential 

twan velerri nac selif plicat plex specilty 

gethertil acticath regweel ussas matils 

ialoglent emanthat luf nethax tiubl 

sentrep no es spirtsa fen dreay untaab 

naiter mocaw nimmacoden ratorelad 

camrewop agstore cannres tejnospe 

cromilasred dustrltates. 

Smertnes welltoj bountreq noitam 

fodniy koob rewopst tropslobagi xafs 

enolck quetsyg fir ert yu inspantres. 

Netnoct as tewra nach nomed geooog 

bis az ediwst saht doptech moert 

zilsting mernst posibtel sm 

And if this was not enough, Janet is now club 

handicapper. 

Thankyou Janet for your contributions to the club. 

9

A Tribute To Past Commodore Marshall Hawes 

Honorary Life And 50 Year Member 

Tribute 

Marshall Hawes, a grandson of Life 

Member, Past Commodore Charles 

Marshall, joined the St Kilda 14 ft 

Sailing Club in 1939, sailing the 8 

ft Dinghy Ace, later to crew on 14 

footers. It was on 9 January 1946, 

when he joined Royal St Kilda Yacht 

Club as a Junior Member, to crew 

on his grandfather’s auxiliary yacht, 

Uira, skippered by his father. He later 

crewed on the Tumlarens, Carina and 

Dondu, followed by the International 

Dragon class yacht Snowgoose. 

Season 1964-65, he purchased the 

Heron class, off-the-beach yacht 

Uira, became an Intermediate Class 

Delegate until 1968, and a member 

of the Sailing Committee until 1975. 

In the meantime he was appointed 

president of the Victorian Heron 

Sailing Association, to later on become 

an Honorary Life Member of the Heron 

Sailing Association. 

Marshall’s next yacht was a Tumlare 

in 1969, which he renamed Uira II, 

which he sold in 1972, to purchase 

a Stella Class yacht which in family 

tradition he affectionately renamed 

Uira. He was to serve on various subcommittees 

and became Commodore 

for seasons 1975-1977, a position he 

held during the Squadron’s Centenary 

Celebrations, beginning in 1976. 

During his term as Commodore 

he ended a long period of unstable 

administrations, along with the 

Squadron paying off all debts, most 

importantly staving off the indignity 

of Royal Brighton having to take us 

over. At the same time he began the 

planning for the later-achieved marina 

development and offered equal rights 

for women as members. Around this 

time he replaced Uira with the H-28 

Class yacht Safari. 

Marshall was appointed Chairman of 

the Membership Committee in 1981, 

then in 1983 his expertise came to 

the fore, when he was instrumental 

in having the Squadron incorporated 

as a Company. It was to his credit 

that, in endeavouring to keep and 

preserve the Club’s yachting image 

and remain identifiable to all as a 

Yacht Club, he ensured the Certificate 

was issued without the words Limited 

or Incorporated and also that the 

historical titles of Commodore, Vice 

Commodore, Rear Commodore and 

General Committee were retained, 

only to use the name of Directors for 

Corporate Documents. 

At the Annual General Meeting held 

26 August, 1989, Marshall Hawes was 

elected an Honorary Life Member of 

the Squadron along with receiving his 

50 year Membership badge. 

This popular and respected dedicated 

Past Commodore, whose wisdom 

over the years helped steer many a 

Commodore and Administration in the 

right direction, died on 6 August 2009, 

aged 80 years, “To be sorely missed by all 

who were ever associated with him”. 

10

Heading for Geelong 

Photo by Roger Lloyd 

11

St Kilda Safe Harbour – Full Steam Ahead! 

Aerial Perspective of St Kilda Pier and Harbour 

12

On 14th July 2009 the City of Port Philip 

finally issued the planning permit 

(with conditions) for the new floating 

marina. The application for the safe 

harbour and new floating mooring 

berths was professionally prepared 

by GHD. The proposal was for 230 

floating marina berths to be located 

in “the pond”, a 100 metre southern 

rock wall extension of the breakwater 

coming east from Kirbys, a small spur 

to be added to the breakwater near 

its outer end and a 140 metre floating 

wave attenuator to the north. 

It’s been a long and winding road. 

The application was lodged with the 

City of Port Philip in December 2005 

after extensive consultation and 

planning with the public, community 

interest groups, Council, Parks 

Victoria, Department of Sustainability 

and Environment and all other 

relevant authorities. The application 

was publicly advertised and a minimal 

number of objections received from 

members of the public and swing 

mooring holders. 

The Minister at the time required 

that a master plan for the harbour be 

prepared. Parks Victoria eventually 

prepared a plan with significant 

input from SSH directors and RMYS 

members. Squadron members would 

have seen photo’s of the master plan 

around the club. 

The Department of Sustainability 

and Environment and Parks Victoria 

formally supported the application and 

the required Coastal Management Act 

approval has been granted. 

After re-advertising the proposal 

again, the City of Port Philip resolved 

at a planning meeting on the 9th June 

2009 to issue a Notice of Decision to 

grant the permit with conditions. The 

Notice of Decision does not include 

the other works in the master plan 

except for those that impact on the 

RMYS permit. The conditions of 

the proposed permit are generally 

reasonable and acceptable and what 

would be expected for this type of 

development. However, the matters or 

significant interest are the conditions 

which make the proposal consistent 

with the master plan: 

• The number of floating berths 

increased from 230 to 250. 

• The northern wave attenuator being 

increased from 140 to 210 metres to 

allow Parks Victoria in the future to 

sell off another 300 berths in the area 

of the existing wooden structure. 

• The existing wooden structure to 

be removed within 12 months of 

completing the new marina but 

with the possibility of some further 

extension. Our aim is to keep it as 

long as possible. 

• The southern breakwater (rock 

groin) has to be built so as to allow 

for the construction of a new pier 

immediately to the south of the 

existing pier. 

• All breakwater works are only to be 

undertaken between May and July 

(this is a usual condition) 

There were 10 original objections to 

our original application and those 

objectors had 21 days to lodge an 

appeal to VCAT against the Notice of 

Decision from the time it was posted 

to them. Any appeal and the final 

decision from VCAT could have taken 

3-4 months. No appeals were lodged. 

What happens now ? 

In order to proceed with the project, 

RMYS and St Kilda Safe Harbour Ltd 

now have to: 

• negotiate a seabed lease with Parks 

Victoria; 

• draw up more detailed marina and 

breakwater plans to obtain indicative 

costings; and 

• negotiate an arrangement with 

Parks Victoria for the construction 

of the southern wave attenuator. 

Other ancillary approvals for the 

construction must be obtained 

such as a construction environment 

management plan. A brief for tender 

of the contract for construction has 

to be prepared before tenders can be 

called. 

The St Kilda Safe Harbour Ltd 

directors have agreed to accept an 

additional number of pledges of 

support for funding the feasibility of 

the safe harbour and the new floating 

berths to a stage where RMYS may 

be in a position to offer berths in the 

new marina. The directors decided 

to increase the limit on the number 

of pledges the company would accept 

to 120 because the size of the marina 

has increased to from 230 to 250 

berths and a number of the original 

pledge givers have indicated that their 

circumstances have changed and they 

are no longer interested in assisting 

with the project. 

If you are interesting in finding out 

more about the developments, please 

speak to the General Manager, Peter 

Dawson. 

13

2009 Australian Women’s Keel Boat Regatta 

A record fleet of 22 yachts, ranging 

from a Thompson 7 sports boat to 

Ocean racers, contested the 19th 

Australian Women’s Keel Boat Regatta 

on the Queen’s Birthday weekend of 

6,7 and 8 June 2009. 

The Regatta was instigated by Gai 

Clough, a past Commodore of Royal 

Melbourne Yacht Squadron, 19 years 

ago and is now the premier regatta for 

women in Victoria. 

In 2009, over 150 individual competitors 

from Victoria, South Australia and 

Tasmania competed in the Regatta. A 

feature of the Royal Melbourne event 

which makes it unique is the strong and 

increasing presence of the interstate 

competitors and the intensity of the 

competition. 

Weather conditions over the weekend 

displayed a significant range, with 

Saturday and Sunday being raced 

in light and variable winds, until the 

wind ran out completely on Sunday 

afternoon, resulting in abandonment 

of race 4. Fortunately, Monday saw 

the passage of the cold front across 

the bay, bringing with it building 

lively conditions with north westerly 

winds of 15 to 25 knots, which pushed 

the women to the limit over 3 very 

demanding races. 

The Tasmanian crew, skippered by 

Hobart yachtswoman Dianne Barkas, 

sailed the chartered Sydney 38 Scarlet 

Runner to line honours in all 6 races, 

placing second overall in the IRC 

division and third in the AMS division. 

The Scarlet Runner crew showed 

excellent heavy weather sailing skills 

in carrying a shy spinnaker to the line 

in the final race, with the westerly 

gusting across the bay at 25 knots. 

On corrected time, Scarlet Runner 

notched up 4 seconds, a third and 

a seventh place, an excellent result 

for the women who came from 3 

Hobart clubs, the Royal Yacht Club of 

Tasmania, Derwent Sailing Squadron 

and Bellerive Yacht Club. 

Top Gun, the Adams 10 skippered by 

Erin Peters from Royal Yacht Club of 

Victoria took out top honours in the 

PHS, IRC and AMS divisions. The 

14

Royal Melbourne Yacht 

Squadron Visits Royal 

Akarana Yacht Club 

extremely well sailed Adams 10 took 

first place on corrected time in 5 of 

the 6 heats in the IRC division and 

won the AMS division with placings 

of 1-2-5-1. Second overall in IRC 

division was Scarlet Runner with third 

overall awarded to another Adams 10, 

Salamander III from Royal Melbourne 

Yacht Squadron, skippered by Janet 

Dean. Salamander III won race 3 and 

scored a second, 2 thirds, a fourth and 

a fifth in the other heats. 

Meridian Passage owned by Past 

Commodore Rohan Brownlee and 

helmed by Alison Binks from RMYS 

performed extremely well, finishing 

third overall in the performance division 

with placings of 3-6-1-19-10-13. 

Top Gun proved to be a polished 

performer, a dedicated bunch of 

women whose regular training and 

excellent team work saw them defend 

their IRC win from the 2008 Regatta 

and go on to add the performance and 

AMS trophies to their trophy cabinet. 

Although skippered by a RYCV member, 

Top Gun was helmed by Anne Antrecht 

of Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron 

with 5 out of the 7 crew drawn from 

Royal Melbourne. 

The South Australian competitors, led 

by Helen Willmer and Lisa Bettcher, the 

sailing administrator from Royal South 

Australian Yacht Squadron, competed 

on Spellbound and Mrs Overnewton, 

very kindly loaned by Past Commodore 

Ian Ewing and Les Norton. The South 

Australians had 50 women in training 

for the Regatta, chose their best 18 

and spread them between Spellbound 

and Mrs Overnewton. The South 

Australian girls performed extremely 

well on a patch of water relatively 

unknown to them and took out the 

Sportsmanship award. Kathy De Garis 

and her crew aboard Allegresse from 

Royal Brighton Yacht Club received the 

inaugural trophy, kindly donated by Ian 

Lodewyckx, the Rear Commodore of 

Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron, for 

the best performing boat owned by a 

female skipper. 

The Regatta was an enormous 

success. Not only was the racing top 

notch, but the on-water management 

was extremely strong, led this year by 

Regatta officer Amanda Wakeham with 

the assistance of Dennis Livingston, 

Club Captain Stuart Addison, Alistair 

Hart, the Royal Melbourne Sailing 

Committee and volunteers. The social 

program and seminar series leading 

into the event added interest and colour 

with the Royal Melbourne bar crowded 

with competitors, their supporters, 

coaches and sponsors from the Friday 

night briefing through to the Monday 

presentation dinner after-party. 

2010 sees the 20th year of the Regatta 

and it will be an occasion worth 

celebrating. 

Linda Goldsmith 

Vice Commodore 

Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron 

On 3 April 2009, 15 women from RMYS 

travelled to Royal Akarana Yacht 

Club in Auckland to represent RMYS 

and Australia in the New Zealand 

National Keel Boat Championships. 

The event was held over two days on 

Waitemata Harbour in Auckland and 

we entered three teams lead by Janet 

Dean, Marg Ludowyk and Jo Morley. 

The Royal Melbourne team acquitted 

itself exceptionally well with all Royal 

Melbourne competitors learning 

valuable lessons in international 

competition and one design racing. 

The regatta is conducted in a fleet 

of Platu 25’s, a keelboat ‘hybrid’ 

between a small Farr and Beneteau. 

The boats were allocated the evening 

before racing by ballot, and the crews 

swapped boats on each day of racing. 

It was the first time in many years 

that an official Royal Melbourne team 

had represented the Squadron on 

the international arena and it is an 

initiative which is likely to continue. 

The New Zealand girls were definitely 

faster than us and more attuned to the 

skills of one design racing. Racing on 

their home waters, they taught us a 

lesson or two but we came away from 

Royal Akarana having improved our 

skills enormously and having obtained 

knowledge of first-class racing. 

It is likely that the Royal Melbourne 

women will again enter teams 

in the 2010 National Keel Boat 

Championships. The 2009 team was 

comprised of; Rebecca Badenoch, 

Virginia L’hermet, Linda Goldsmith, 

Caitlin Poulton, Celia Dymond, Debra 

Plueckhahn, Janet Dean, Janina 

Goethel, Jennifer Aughterson, Jillian 

Adams, Jo Morley, Julie Davis, Lee 

McCrae, Marg Ludowyk and Monica 

Jones. 

The team was very capably coached by 

past Commodore Peter Chapman. 

Linda Goldsmith 

15

RMYS Yachts 

16

RMYS... a very social club! Annual Ball 2009. 

18

Mrs Overnewton Races to 

Launceston - 2008 

In an ocean race such as the Melbourne 

to Launceston, the excitement starts 

a long, long time before the firing 

of the starting gun. In the case of an 

ocean race there is completion of all 

the forms and getting them to the 

ORCV. This includes insurance, next 

of kin, righting moments of the ship, 

certificates of first aid, radio licenses 

and the evidence that the life raft has 

been satisfactorily reviewed. It always 

seems to be never ending requests to 

me and one is always fighting for time, 

hoping that all the paperwork is in 

before the date the race starts. 

The next step is to raise the enthusiasm 

of the crew members that we would like 

to come sailing in the ocean race and 

then trying to sort who is and who is 

not coming quite a while before the set 

date. One has to consider organizing 

a crew that consists of people who 

are experienced in ocean racing with 

regard to seamanship, navigation and 

someone who can work in difficult 

situations even when seasick! ORCV 

regulations set down guidelines for 

crew experience. 

Once the boat has been entered and 

the crew sorted, the next step is trying 

to improve the skills for the race. This 

can consist of doing the spinnaker 

races mid week to gain confidence in 

changing sails and spinnaker runs. It 

continues to grow in enthusiasm until a 

couple of days before Christmas when 

menus are made, food is organized, 

the boat is checked with regard to 

rigging, sails and minor repairs that 

need to be done. Wives and partners 

are bribed, grovelled to and placed 

on their well-deserved pedestal for 

allowing them to go. 

Fortunately, on Mrs Overnewton we 

have Hans (who is a marine engineer 

by trade) and he keeps the boat in 

very good shape and is very proactive 

in making certain that things 

are working correctly. As you know, 

with my professional background, 

the boat toilet is regarded as a very 

important part of any sailing vessel 

and, fortunately, Hans always has it 

20

unning smoothly. I have a rule that no 

one urinates over the side of the boat 

during ocean races to reduce the risk 

of someone falling overboard. They 

might fall overboard from my boat - 

but not for that reason.! 

A few days before Christmas we stop 

all activities and have a well earned 

rest waiting for the Cock of the Bay. 

This is always a very exciting day with 

a lot of boats, helicopters, press boats 

and the occasional person who likes 

to mosey around the start in their 

spectator craft. The gun goes and 

everyone is racing to Blairgowrie. It 

is always great fun and so far it has 

always been very good weather. Once 

there, the Blairgowrie Yacht Club 

extends us a lot of hospitality and we 

have a weather briefing by the Weather 

Bureau on the morning of the trans- 

Tasman yacht races - whether going 

east, west or down the centre - the 

weather forecasts are very important. 

On this occasion, the weather forecast 

looked good. We were thinking that 

we should go to the west to get better 

winds after we passed the Heads. 

The start off the Portsea pier is always 

a great thrill. There are a lot of boats 

and the starting boat, this time, was 

The Enterprise which added an olde 

worldly touch to the lean and mean 

racing yachts that we have today. 

There was hardly any wind at the start 

and, just as we were coming up to the 

starting line after the one minute gun, 

a puff of wind got all the boats going. 

The boats closer to shore got the wind 

first and steamed off towards the 

Heads. Some people could carry shy 

kites and streaked ahead. Boats like us 

were too shy for the spinnaker and had 

to continue on to try to stay in place. 

On this occasion, there was no yelling 

or screaming because people came 

up to the line in a spread out fashion. 

It is not good to have too much angst, 

anxiety or damage on the starting line 

for an ocean race! We know all about 

that! 

As we continued on to the Heads 

the wind slowly dropped off. After 

rounding the buoy at the Heads, the 

boats started to slowly separate going 

in different directions. As I said earlier, 

we went slowly west. The wind was 

very calm for the first three or four 

hours and we sailed on a broad reach. 

Later in the afternoon, we decided to 

put up the spinnaker as we felt that 

the wind would veer around enough 

for us to do this. We put the spinnaker 

up and started heading up with the 

southwesterly and continued on 

towards Launceston (or should I say 

Beauty Point). The wind slowly started 

to rise and the boat churned ahead, 

getting up to 12 ½ knots. During 

the night the wind did drop down 

and we had some problems holding 

the spinnaker. On one occasion the 

spinnaker became wrapped around the 

forestay and, when you are fifty miles 

off the coast, it is always a concern 

that the wind will come in and it will 

become even more wrapped around 

the forestay. The only way to deal 

with this would be to cut the jib down. 

These are concerns that an owner has 

but probably not necessarily shared by 

the crew! Fortunately, we were able to 

drop the spinnaker halyard three or 

four feet and the spinnaker unwound 

and we were off again. This was the 

only time the crew saw the skipper up 

the bow trying to unravel the jib. I was 

not seen up in that area again! 

The crew on watch is changed every 

four hours to give people plenty of 

rest as it can become quite busy. As 

the sun came up the wind started to 

rise and, around 11.00 am, we were 

heading along at fast speeds for us 

(14-15 knots) when we had a small 

broach and thought nothing of it. In 

fact, I thought it might have been a bit 

of imagination on the part of the crew 

member who was steering but I was 

informed by another member of the 

crew that it was 18.1 knots when we 

later broached badly some thirty miles 

off the coast of Tasmania. I was in the 

stern and was covered by water up 

to my mid chest! Everyone was quite 

surprised at the look on my face which 

was somewhere between exhilaration 

and anxiety. We then decided to lower 

the spinnaker and put the jib on a pole 

which seemed to be a more stable 

situation and we sped along at 14 or 

so knots towards Beauty Point. 

As we came through the opening of 

Beauty Point past the rocks we realized 

that we had done better overnight, 

possibly because we had sailed so well 

but probably because we had more 

wind than other boats and we cruised 

to the finish with us yelling over the 

completion of the course. Motoring up 

the river in a 25-30 knot wind is quite 

exciting and there are many twists and 

turns in the Tamar estuary. We came 

to Beauty Point and were escorted into 

the friendly Tamar Yacht Club. Once in 

we were able to see their brand new 

rooms which were very fine, have a 

good shower and then rest for the 

remainder of the day. 

(Dr) Leslie J Norton 

3rd in PHS 

2nd in IRC Melbourne-Launceston 

Rudder Cup Series 

4th over line in Melbourne-Launceston 

1 day 4 hours 13.41 minutes 

21

A Tribute to Frank Konkoly 

Tribute 

The following was written by the 

President of the Endeavour Yacht 

Association of Victoria to honour the 

Frank the man and the contribution he 

made to yachting in this state. 

Sadly EYAV Founder and First 

President, Frank Konkoly, Passed 

away March 2009. 

Forty years ago the EYAV began in 

Victoria in 1969 with Royal Melbourne 

Yacht Squadron (RMYS) acting as 

host club. Frank Konkoly was the 

foundation President and Secretary 

of the Association, and his yacht 

‘Balaton’ was the first Endeavour 24 

on Port Phillip. Two other foundation 

members at that time and are still 

EYAV members are Frank Hammond, 

Managing Director of Horizon/ 

Hammond Sails, at that time with 

an Endeavour 24 ‘Charissa’, and 

Bill Whelpton and his Endeavour 24 

‘Masumi’. 

Frank was extremely enthusiastic and 

supportive of new E24 owners and 

their crew. Many new sailors had their 

initial training aboard “Balaton”, and 

any yacht sailing competitively against 

Frank always knew they would have a 

battle on their hands. 

The EYAV grew quickly under Frank’s 

guidance and became one of the 

most successful Class racers on Port 

Phillip. 

The EYAV Presentation Dinners at 

RMYS were legendary, and the EYAV 

trophies were eagerly contested, 

especially the Konkoly trophy 

generously donated by Frank. 

There were many stories about Frank’s 

sailing adventures that surfaced from 

yacht clubs and sailors around Port 

Phillip, one from Peter Davison. 

Frank Konkoly by Peter Davison. 

“I was a long haired lanky lout of 17 

years when I first fronted up to the 

back gates of RMYS in 1972, begging 

a spot as a novice crew with any that 

would give me a go. It was to my 

great fortune that Frank had a crew 

shortage that day and offered me a 

sail on his Endeavour 24, “Balaton”. 

Balaton was one of the first Endeavour 

24s on Port Phillip, but by the time I 

came along they were a fleet of 18 to 

20 yachts, the envy of all our sister 

clubs, and due in no small measure 

to the untiring enthusiasm and 

encouragement of Frank Konkoly, 

founder and then president of the 

Endeavour 24 Yacht Association of 

Victoria. 

Frank was always enthusiastic about 

his sailing, very enthusiastic. He was 

also a very strong man. Perhaps too 

strong, and perhaps too enthusiastic. 

It was only after I stopped sailing with 

Frank that I learned that there was an 

alternative halyard tension to “as hard 

as you can possibly get it”! 

I still vividly remember a return 

passage race from Portarlington 

(The E24s ran 3 or 4 passage races to 

different destinations around the Bay 

in those days) with a light following 

breeze. Balaton was slowly overhauling 

Aphros, skippered by Russ 

Fraser. I was trimming the kite, Alison 

Turner was standing on the cabin 

top holding out the boom, and Frank 

was intent on overtaking Aphros to 

windward. Russ Fraser was not going 

to let it happen. Every time we tried to 

move to their windward side, Aphros 

would shy up and cart us off towards 

Avalon until we either gave up, or 

luffed too high and stopped the boat. 

As we were closing in on Aphros for 

the umpteenth time, unexpectedly 

their kite sheet became disconnected. 

Frank saw his chance and seized it 

with both hands! I’m not sure how he 

did it, but instantaneously he hauled in 

my kite sheet, pushed down the helm 

and yanked in on the main. Alas, Alison 

was caught unawares. Such was the 

force of Frank’s main trimming that 

she was launched off the cabin top 

and over the side! 

“Man overboard! Man overboard!” 

yelled Frank. In the light conditions it 

didn’t take too long for Alison to get 

back to the transom, where Frank 

hauled her out of the water as if she 

was a wet kitten. But Aphros got away 

and remained out of reach for the rest 

of the race.” 

22

Commodores Dinner 2008 

RMYS Commodores: (back row, left to right) Ted Montford, Marshal Hawes, Doug Jenkins, Ian Ewing, John Hart, 

Stephen Hawes, Gai Clough, Alan Saunders, Ken Simpson, Graham Burton, Russ Nathan, Les Clough, Harry Legget, 

(front row) Peter Chapman, Rohan Brownlee, Jim Rook Absent: Mike Sibley 

Commodores Dinner 2009 

Harry Legget, Les Clough, 

Rohan Brownlee 

Alan and Auriel Saunders 

Doug Jenkins and Helen Smith 

Ian and Margaret Ewing 

Graham and Gloria Burton 

Jim and Margot Rook 

23

to check. We started out at 3.5 knots, 

on the breeze ... finding the heady luff 

line loose picked up another .5 knot. 

Getting the main sorted picked up 

another knot ... so close to 5 knots, 

with 11 knots of breeze and a dirty 

bum... we were happy enough! 

First Buy a Boat Then Bring It Home 

Para phrasing Mrs Beeton, members 

Jeff Taylor and Kirsty Baxter “first 

bought a boat”. It was in America so 

all that had to be done was to sail it 

back. 

Nowadays, not only does the cruiser 

keep a Log of their voyage but also an 

internet account, the blog. Kirsty (KB) 

and Jeff (JT) kept up a blog throughout 

their voyage and the following is a 

sample. It chronicles the life of the 

voyager and shares their day to day 

life as well as high and low points. 

Thanks Jeff and Kirsty for permission 

to quote from your chronicle. 

07/28/2008, Puerto Vallarta, Nayarit, 

Mexico. 

Hi all! 

Well, we made it to Mexico. Seems like 

it has been forever since Kirsty sent 

me the link to a C&C in Mexico... and 

what started out as a “yeah, right!” 

has turned into a life change for both 

of us. We have leased our house, sold 

the car, tossed everything into a 20’ 

container (save the 250kgs we shoved 

onto Qantxas) and relocated our life to 

following summer for 2 years. 

Customs was a breeze, with the only 

thing nabbed being the Beef Jerky I 

had bought in the US... Funny, I’ve had 

beef jerky taken by me by customs 

agents around the world.. You’d think 

I’d learn! 

So Nick and Carol Rau were our boat 

brokers, great service and the nicest 

people! Highly recommended! Carol 

picked us up from the airport, and got 

us settled into the boat. 

So we got on, pretty exhausted, went 

up to the main resort for dinner and 

walked on the beach after. What would 

be on the beach, but a turtle (green 

turtle, maybe - as we don’t have our 

naturalist guides yet) laying eggs! Not 

twenty feet from all the beach lounges 

that will be full of tourists the next day. 

Maybe it’s a safer place for the babies, 

or maybe her forebears have been 

laying on that beach for thousands of 

years. Who knows, but pretty damned 

cool! 

So after a hot night’s sleep, we got 

up and hit the store for brekkie stuff. 

Washing the topsides and getting all 

the paperwork sorted with Nick and 

Carol took up the morning and early 

afternoon. So at 4:30pm we FINALLY 

dropped the dock lines for our first sail! 

And of course the boat slowly crabbed 

to the left, with the stern getting oh 

so close to the dock!... ah, the fun of 

backing a new boat. So with Kirsty in 

the front, ready to fend off the boat 

to our right ... me hopping back onto 

the dock to give the butt a lil push off 

the dock ... then leaping back into the 

cockpit we are on our way! After that 

the sail went smoothly ... shh, don’t 

remind Kirsty of the unplanned tacks 

when things like the radar started 

working (thought it was broken, or a 

cable unattached) ... funny how you 

have to actually concentrate on sailing 

when you helm! 

But the boat sailed nicely with two 

newbies on board. We think the bum 

is pretty dirty, but as there are small 

salties and signs for Crocs, we won’t 

be diving on the boat in the marina 

Returning to the marina, the few 

people at the yacht club on a Sunday 

had fun watching me “dock” against 

a phantom slip, as I practiced how 

Nemesis handles under slow forward 

and reverse. She walks very nicely to 

the left, perfect if the dock is always 

on the left, as ours in now ... so after 

entertaining the locals for a few 

minutes, we slid her right back into 

our slip. Only four feet off the dock... 

so after backing in and out three 

times, threw it in neutral and I jumped 

over to place the stern line... after that 

NO PROBLEMO. 

We finished the night with a BBQ of 

snags and beer .... and finally walked 

up the yacht club for showers, a 

swim... and a hot tub! (Note, RMYS has 

the PERFECT location for a big hot tub 

on the roof... put THAT into the master 

plan!)... Last learning of the day - if the 

men’s showers are deserted, and you 

have to use the restroom just before 

showering... TAKE YOUR FOB! I found 

out the hard way that the shower room 

is locked from the toilets by a fob! So 

I’m in my birthday suit going out into 

the lobby (only door unlocked) hoping 

the Kirsty was still in the ladies room 

finishing her shower! I got lucky, 

enough said... 

08/11/2008, La Cruz, Mexico 

So we finally cut the cord and left the 

marina on Saturday, 2 weeks after we 

arrived and cruised over to another 

part of Banderas Bay, to a little fishing 

town called La Cruz - a huge 7.5nm 

sail. The winds were around 10kts 

when we left the marina and we made 

good time under headsail and we were 

joined by a pod of Dolphins, including a 

mother and baby for some of the sail. 

About half way to La Cruz the wind 

dropped down to 2kts, so we decided to 

hoist our first kite. There is a kite sock 

on boat, a marvellous invention that 

means the two of us can get the kite up 

and fly it with no worries at all - it was 

the easiest kite hoist and drop we’ve 

ever done. It was a great feeling to be 

heading out for some time at anchor 

with our kite up - so we had a Cerveza 

24

(translation = beer) to celebrate. 

Beautiful!! Anchoring proved to be no 

problems and we spent a pretty calm 

night at anchor, it was the first time we 

have really been able to see the stars 

and the moon. 

08/24/2008, Bahia de los Muertos, 

Baja California Sur, Mexico 

As the wind had dropped out, we were 

motor sailing with just the main up. 

The roller furling buggered up on the 

passage over from Puerto Vallarta, so 

to raise or lower the heady, it was like 

being on Matrix... had to go forward 

and drop and flake the sail. We had the 

heady poled out for a bit but dropped 

it as it started to flop and bang with 

the sideways hitting swell as the wind 

dropped out. Marko kept watch from 

10pm - Midnight and woke me once 

to ask about some thunderstorm and 

lightening clouds approaching from 

the rear... from the earlier crossing I 

told him they were too far back and 

not to worry about it. Marko ended his 

watch a few minutes before midnight, 

all well with a 2 knot wind from the 

West. 

It is never my plan to motor-sail, I’d 

always prefer to hold out for the wind 

and just flop around until it comes, 

but tonight we had discussed options 

over dinner. The first was suggested 

by me, to sail until the wind dropped, 

then heave-too and just sit out and 

drift until the wind picked up, Marco 

saw some lights in the distance and 

wanted to visit the little town of Buena 

Vista in the distance and thought it 

would be fun to pop in an see if we 

could anchor... but after being blown 

toward a lee-shore in the afternoon, I 

wasn’t about to go into an uncharted 

anchorage that the books we have 

didn’t list. Kirsty was the voice of 

reason, and decided that if we have to 

keep watch drifting, we might as well 

be motoring and be at the anchorage 

by morning. Bahia de los Muertos (Bay 

of the Dead - but named for the “dead 

man” style anchors that were used for 

mining ships in years past - think of a 

big iron block on the seabed attached 

to a chain onto which the ship would 

attach to the chain) had a Giggling 

Marlin restaurant and yacht club that 

promised ice, showers and food. After 

the last two days, a shower and bar 

sounded just like heaven! 

So my watch was pretty mellow, a big 

ship was crossing and I marvelled 

at the distance between the two 

white lights. As I couldn’t hear it the 

assumption was the ship was pretty 

far off. Then right around 1:30am 

20+ knots of breeze hit in a storm. 

Surprising, but the storm Marko saw 

had caught up! So I did a quick jibe 

to follow the wind and helmed for the 

20 minutes of activity. No big deal. 

About an hour later, the wind had 

dropped back down to 5-7 knots and I 

hear a blowing sound off to the side... 

dolphins? Hmmm maybe but they had 

never blown that loud... so I grab my 

Mag Light and see a 3 foot grey dorsal 

fin with a breathing hole behind it... 

hmmm Gray Orcas? Must be! I woke 

Kirsty and Marko, but by the time they 

were on deck and shaking the sleep 

out, the last Orca took a breath in the 

shadows of the flashlight beam cutting 

the dark and mist and was gone. All 

went back to bed, and I continued to 

motor and watch the coastline lights 

slip by about ten miles away. 

Kirsty took over watch about 4:30am, 

and I was able to come down to sleep. 

I could feel the boat heeling and the 

associate growls and rumbles as 

Kirsty tacked the boat, pulled on a 

boom preventer, or the click of the 

mainsheet being pulled in. In a fog, 

Kirsty asked me what to do as we were 

approaching shore, but it was still dark 

so we couldn’t scope it out to anchor. 

I told her to head back out to sea, and 

we could tack back after daybreak. 

So you know that feeling when you 

are asleep, but on the fringe of being 

awake? Is it a dream or did the boat just 

lie down on its side several degrees? 

Must not be a dream or Kirsty’s in it 

with me yelling for a REEF! So I bounce 

up the companion way steps and just 

see grey and rain. Kirsty is braced 

at the wheel with her game face on, 

struggling with the boat as she has a 

full mainsail up (no heady). Everything 

is already prepared for the first reef on 

the left side of the cabin top clutches 

(just pulling down the Cunningham 

for the luff of the sail and reef #1 

line. Both go onto cabin top winches 

under the dodger.) I hand the mainsail 

halyard down the companion way to 

Marko and instruct him to keep it tight 

and let out a foot at a time when I ask 

for it. What a way for us to wake up! 

Kirsty is struggling, still and barking 

out for us to hurry with the reef. Oh the 

fun of salt spray washing the sleep out 

of your eyes! I crank on the reef and 

Marko slowly lets the main down. About 

halfway down the steering lightens up 

for Kirsty and I ask her what the wind 

and boat speed is. Mid twenty’s for the 

wind from the South when she asked 

for the reef and hitting the 30’s now 

with the boat rolling along in the 7’s. 

With the reef in, the main is drooped 

over the running backstay... the main 

went down a bit too much, so I have 

Kirsty luff up into the wind so I can 

tighten it back up a bit... At least the 

boat is handling better. 

Before the reefing, the boat had 

rounded up and headed us into shore, 

we still have 4 miles to chew up, but 

hence Kirsty’s excitement of getting 

the reef in, the boat settled down and 

turned back out to sea. I quickly put on a 

rain jacket, PFD/harness, and grabbed 

my tether, then popped back up to take 

the helm thru the turn back out to sea. 

As you know, sailboats DON’T turn too 

well in strong wind without a headsail 

up! So I restarted the engine and used 

the “Iron Genny” to help us turn 180 

degrees back to sea. My first thought 

was where the HELL did this storm 

come from? We had been checking the 

SSB (Single Side Band High Frequency 

radio) for weather reports and had 

been in the clear for the next two days! 

Marko, quick thinking, jumped on his 

mobile phone and called his sister for 

an internet forecast of what we were 

facing. 

Welcome Tropical Storm JULIO! It was 

confirmed that the tropical low that 

was down below Acapulco had slid 

up 500 miles in quick order! The wind 

started to shift and was taking on a 

South to South Easterly direction. The 

waves whipped up by the South wind 

were hitting us from the starboard 

side in a rocking motion as the new 

waves started slowing our forward 

progress. I’m looking to the left and 

seeing a point of land three miles off 

the port side that is seeming not to 

move. I holler down for Kirsty to check 

the GPS and see if we are making 

progress forward, or being blown into 

land? We are still making progress! 

Kirsty in the meantime is plotting a 

path to La Paz, the closest safe harbor 

for a hurricane. 

Marko is popped up in the hatch 

talking about the storms of last night, 

and being from Florida has much 

more hurricane experience! They were 

25

most likely arms of the storm hitting 

us as the Julio was approaching. 

Being in the Northern Hemisphere 

the storm would be rotating counterclockwise, 

so the South winds shifting 

to the East told us that the storm was 

somewhere on our left to left-rear 

quarter... how close we had no idea. (In 

the Northern Hemisphere you put your 

back to the wind and your left hand 

points to the storm centre - conversely 

in the Southern Hemisphere you 

face the wind and the storm centre 

is on your left - hmmm guess us 

Northern Hemispherical types are just 

backwards!). 

Between us and the hurricane hole 

outside La Paz is a barrier Island (Isla 

Cerralvo) , you can go to http://maps. 

google.com and type in “N 23 59.0, W 

109 49.3”, then zoom out halfway to 

see the area we were sailing in. So 

with a course picked we will go behind 

Isla Cerralvo and straight up to the San 

Lorenzo Channel to drop down to La 

Paz. With the wind shifting to the East 

(directly in front as we are heading 

out to sea, but will be from the right 

side after the turn between Baja and 

the island) we will get protection from 

the wind from the island, and the point 

(Punta Arena de la Ventana should help 

with the waves coming from the South. 

With the GPS waypoint hit, Kirsty tells 

me to turn for the straight. 

I’ll tell you, I’ve wanted to prove out 

the new sailboat, see how she handles 

in wind and waves, but THIS was not 

how I imagined doing it! As I power 

the engine up to turn, the waves start 

pushing from the port-rear quarter 

(left rear end). We are being lifted and 

rolled as I try to maintain a new course. 

The waves are about 9’ (3 meters) and 

you can just feel the power as they try 

to push us straight, where of course 

the island is. I tell Kirsty to be prepared 

down below for the boat to roll over to 

the right! The wind has calmed to a 

sustained 28 knots (feels like calming 

from the 40 knot bursts Kirsty saw!), 

and I grit my teeth and start to fight 

the wheel. Kirsty lets me know we 

are one mile off the danger line of the 

island. We either have to turn more 

and let the waves hit us from the stern 

quarter or tack out to sea into the wind 

and bigger waves. Come’on Nemesis, 

let’s see what your made of! 

Up, thirty degrees to the starboard, 

and then back 30 degrees to the port 

as the waves roll under us. But she’s 

balanced and holding course... the 

compass ticks over as I fight for 032 

degrees and safe passage to the side 

of the island. I holler for a course 

evaluation from Kirsty, as the rain is 

belting down and visibility is down to 

hundreds of yards. No hope in hearing 

breaking waves over that wind! But 

we are shooting into the channel with 

room to spare... 

With the island to our right and the 

point sliding by to the left, we finally 

start getting some relief from the 

worst of the wind and big swell. Over 

the next few hours we proceed up the 

coast to our next big challenge, San 

Lorenzo Channel (of course named 

for a previous wreck!). This is a five 

mile wide channel between Baja and 

an outlying island (Isla Espiritu Santo). 

But in the channel are shoals (rocks) 

and only a half mile passage marked by 

lighted buoys (all the Australians I race 

crew with just wince as I say “Buoy” not 

the “Boy” they pronounce but since I’m 

back in the Americas it’s BUOY!). The 

wind is still howling in the high twenty’s 

but we are holding it under motor sail. 

Kirsty calls for the turn on her watch 

and I come up from my rest to take 

over for the turn. I move from the helm 

to adjust the mainsail as the wind is 

almost dead behind and shifting 20-30 

degrees. BAM! The auto pilot howls 

as the wind shift over comes it and we 

round up into the wind. The boom is 

being held in place by the preventer, 

and the sail is fully backed the other 

way~! I get back to the helm and try to 

turn us back on course but even under 

full power it just will not happen... so I 

throw the helm over to the other side 

and Nemesis slowly rotates back onto 

course... nothing like a round up under 

autopilot! 

We spot the buoys and comfortably 

slide between them in the channel, 

watching our depth gauge to make 

sure we are in the channel. With the 

wind shifted right behind us, AGAIN, 

I figure we will have to drop the 

mainsail in order to turn left after 

we pass the point (Punta Coyote) and 

head for La Paz. The way the wind has 

been building, we just can’t hold the 

mainsail without being pushed over 

and rounded up. Kirsty and I confirm 

and I hand Marko the main halyard for 

him to lower when we are ready. Kirsty 

takes the helm and I move forward 

locking on all the way up to the mast. 

Safely tethered to the mast, I start to 

pull on the port Lazy Jack. I get that 

up and can feel the wind building on 

my face as I move to the other side of 

the mast to get the starboard line up. 

The sail is billowed out to this side, 

being on a port tack, and the line just 

will not slide up into place. BAM, Kirsty 

executes a perfect round up in 35 knots 

of wind! But for me, it was perfect 

timing, the Lazy Jack pops up and 

the sail is ready to come down. Marko 

lowers and I scream for more, thinking 

he won’t hear over the wind, but then 

look back and see him grimacing thru 

the dodger are he hangs on with one 

hand and lowers the main sail with the 

other! Go Marko!... So we get the main 

down and all is well getting back to the 

cockpit, have to say all the times up on 

the bow of Matrix helped! No worries, 

just get it done, mate! 

Under motor we turn into the wind and 

start for the last leg, five miles down 

the bay to La Paz... with the wind still 

hitting 30’s we assume the storm has 

passed by based on the wind direction. 

Exhausting, but we made it safely into 

port and can now say Nemesis is seaworthy 

in a Tropical Storm! 

Kudos to Kirsty for her calm and 

systematic execution on the helm 

and navigation! And I also have to say 

that Marko had the ride of his life, not 

being a sailor, but putting up with that 

adventure! Even after all of this, he’s 

still keen to come back on Nemesis 

somewhere in Tahiti! May we have 

fair winds and smooth anchorages by 

then? 

All’s good and we are now well rested 

in port, and I know this post is long, 

but hope a little entertaining! 

12/07/2008, 20 miles South-West 

from Ixtapa, Pacific Coast of central 

Mexico 

The moon has set by the time I start 

my watch. 4:30am. Kirsty has been 

working the boat to wind, what of it 

there is. She passes on the highlights 

of her watch, building winds from 5 

knots up to the 7-8 that I’m seeing 

now. As I grip my steaming mug of 

coffee, I check the GPS and see we are 

heading 90 degrees away from the lay 

line and our goal. Ah, the joy of sailing 

into the wind. 

As Kirsty disappears below to get the 

second part of her night’s sleep, I 

26

gaze up at the stars. Nothing matches 

being at sea. From horizon to horizon, 

a full 360 degrees of sky. No buildings. 

No lights. No smog. Just the stars 

and the boat. Orion is my favourite 

constellation, and is slowly setting 

in the south. The moon is cycling 

towards full, but only half-way there. 

She has already set for the night, but 

I was on early watch (10pm - 1am) I 

would have seen her dancing with 

Orion in the North-Easterly sky as 

they both rise into the sky. Nemesis is 

gently bobbing on the 1-2 foot waves, 

Robbie is clicking softly as he keeps 

to the course Kirsty had set (Robbie is 

our autopilot - a Robertson autopilot). 

As I do my first scan of the horizon 

for ships or other traffic, a few of the 

brighter stars cast a reflection on the 

water. When’s the last time you could 

see stars cast a reflection? 

I turn off Robbie and start to helm. 

Falling off a few degrees I pick up a 

knot of speed, and I grin. Robbie can 

hold a good course and mostly helms 

fast, but he can’t predict and follow the 

wind. I check the hand held GPS and 

see us going further from our goal. 

Time for a tack. I load up the port winch 

and centre the mainsheet. Tacking 

single handed is always an adventure, 

but in a black, moonless night it takes 

on more complexity. With a jib sheet 

in each hand I turn the wheel to port, 

while releasing the starboard sheet 

and dragging in the port sheet. After 

about 100 degrees I stop the turn and 

try to hold course while I tighten the 

jib sheet. Funny the mainsail keeps 

backing with wind, I’ve left the helm 

to winch the jib sheet, and the boat 

is turning itself back to the course I 

just came from. The backed main is 

pulling us back and the jib has now 

joined it, so with a critical eye to the 

main I notice the boom hasn’t shifted 

at all as I tacked! Arrrgh the joy and 

pain of a boom brake! I un- cleat the 

boom brake and and snap, the boom 

tacks as it should have. Too late for 

this attempted tack! I quickly load 

the port winch with the lazy jib sheet 

and return the boat to my original 

course. Now the boom follows suit and 

tacks as it should. Reloading the port 

winch, I pause while the boat speed 

builds again. This time the tack goes 

smoothly and I settle on a course back 

toward land. 

The stars are still winking, but a glow 

is starting to build in the East as 

dawn approaches. The wind is slowly 

building from 7-8 when I took over 

to 10. Speed is increasing on this 

favourable starboard tack, starting to 

push 4 knots. I trim the main, pulling 

in the mainsheet and taking her up the 

traveller good for a 1/2 knot. Hmmm 

we should be mid-6’s with this wind. 

Once again the darkness of night is the 

culprit, that and my only being on my 

second cup of coffee. I vaguely recall 

Kirsty mentioning that the heady is 

partially furled, to keep it from slapping 

against the shrouds during the lighter 

winds she fought during her watch. 

With a quick loosening of the furling 

line, another ten feet of heady sail 

slides out. The extra ten feet of sail 

takes the jib trim from close hauled to 

beam reach trim, so a few cranks on the 

winch slowly settle her back into close 

hauled trim. Ahhh, that’s more like 

it! Nemesis takes a little jump as her 

sails are fully unfurled and trimmed, 

and eases up to 6 knots. She’s heeling 

just a bit, so a yank on the traveller and 

the rail gains a few inches toward the 

water , that’s better! 

As the sun comes up, we re-cross 

the lay line toward land, with the 

wind shifting we are starting to go 

backwards from our goal! Time to tack 

again. This time it’s smooth and quick. 

The wind has settled around 13 knots 

and Nemesis is in stride. I can hear 

the stainless steel French press coffee 

rattle in the sink, so I know I have the 

boat’s heel on. A quick tightening of 

the heady and we’ve broken 7 knots. 

The waves are 1-2 feet (1/2 a meter) 

and slightly from the left of the bow. 

What a ride as we slice and slide over 

the waves. The wind gusts to 15, I see 

a pod of dolphins closing on the bow 

in welcome, a clatter from below as 

items shift from the increased heel, 

and the RAIL DIPS INTO THE WATER. 

Ahh, another suffering day in Mexico! 

01/27/2009, Closing in on Ecuadorian 

Coastline 

Right now we are sitting a couple of 

hundred miles off the Columbian/ 

Ecuadorian border. We have a spinnaker 

up and are making good time on a nice 

even downhill run (wind coming from 

behind) - averaging about 6kts in 8kts 

of breeze (we did just hit 9.6kts doing a 

little wave surfing!). Yesterday was a bit 

of different story, we were on a beam 

reach (wind coming from the side) in 

15 - 20kts of breeze and doing around 

7kts - 8kts but with pretty lumpy 

seas - between 6-8 feet and pretty 

close together. We made great time 

but it’s not that comfortable. Jeff has 

had a couple of bouts of seasickness, 

yesterday being the worst for him, poor 

bugger, it sure didn’t look like much 

fun. So, while he slept, I kept watch, 

read my book and dodged rogue waves 

coming over the side.. only once every 

couple of hours and just when I wasn’t 

looking, both me and my poor book got 

drenched once. It was a long day for 

both of us in different ways but he is 

over it today and I’ve had a good sleep 

so we are back to feeling as normal as 

you can on a passage. 

So what do we do all day on passage? 

Sure not much to look at out here, 

right now we haven’t seen land since 

we left the Panama Islands on Sunday 

and its Tuesday morning. We probably 

won’t see land again until Thursday as 

we make our approach into Ecuador. 

We have settled into a pattern of sleep 

shifts from 9 or 10pm - 3am and then 

3am - 8 or 9am. The longer watch 

times seem to give us both a chance to 

get one solid sleep a day, which helps 

to keep you feeling normal. We both 

also usually take at least a couple of 

hours off during the day to rest, read, 

nap, whatever. And of course we cook, 

we try and make sure we have a good 

dinner together each day - weather 

permitting, sometimes it’s just not 

possible to get a full meal going - it’s 

not that much fun cooking at a 15 

degree heel. Funny thing is that you 

end up spending a lot of time alone or 

sleeping - more than you would think 

in such a confined space. Speaking 

of confined space, we always start off 

super clean and end up looking super 

messy - I can’t exactly say why - but 

that’s just what happens, it’s mainly 

clothes, books and gear that we need 

access to that you want to be able to 

get at quickly without waking the other 

person up. I given up trying to sort 

it out, we just try and make sure the 

kitchen / bathroom is always clean. 

Night watch is the hardest - right now 

there is no moon to speak of so it’s very 

dark and we are currently crossing the 

ITCZ so it’s very overcast and cloudy, 

not even stars to look at. During night 

watch we will watch DVD’s, read, keep 

the boat moving along and of course 

look out for other traffic (it is after all 

called a watch). Some nights you will 

27

see nothing, other times there will be 

lots of other traffic around but that is 

generally when you are closer to shore 

than we are right now. Last night 

around 3am just as I was getting ready 

to come off watch and get some sleep 

- yay - I saw a light off in the distance 

on our port side. We were just passing 

a Columbian Island about 30 miles to 

our starboard that I had read you had 

to give 10 miles berth, so we were OK 

(I think it’s a prison but I’m not sure 

- lots of countries seem to like using 

Islands as prisons I guess it’s pretty 

hard to escape in the middle of the 

Pacific). I figured it was just a tanker, 

that’s mainly what we see out here 

and they move quickly - in and out of 

your sight line in sometimes as little 

as 30 minutes. Jeff was up on deck 

and I was getting ready for bed when 

our VHF radio started to get some 

chatter on it on various channels - 14, 

23... We monitor our VHF when we are 

on passage, but usually only respond 

to 16 (which is the hailing channel 

used all over), especially at night off 

the Columbian coast! We were pretty 

sure that the other boat was trying 

to contact us since the range for VHF 

is only 20 miles and we haven’t seen 

another boat for 2 days, but the calls 

were in Spanish, so we decided to wait 

to see what would happen. Finally a 

call came through on 16, once again in 

Spanish. Jeff responded in a mixture 

of Spanish / English and it turns out 

to be the Columbian Coast Guard, 

checking to see who we are and what 

we were doing out here in the middle 

of nowhere... We let them know who 

we were and they seemed satisfied 

with that and headed off back towards 

the Island they were patrolling. Whew, 

you just never know out here. 

04/15/2009, The Pacific Passage to 

the French Marquesas 

Once on passage we settle into a quasi 

routine. 

8am - Morning Radio Schedule - 

Panama Pacific Net on 8143 USB 

(Upper Side Band on our High 

Frequency Radio) is the volunteer radio 

net that tracks yachts moving around, 

trim sails 9am - Breakfast - we always 

try to eat together for brekkie, unless 

Kirsty is totally hungry and doesn’t 

wait. and trim sails 

10-12 - Dawn watch person gets a 

break - we generally check email, 

read, do some boat projects, and trim 

sails 

12-2p - Night watch person gets a 

break - more of the same as above, 

and trim sails 

2-4 - Both normally about - fishing, 

repairs, reading, etc, and trim sails 

4-5 - Cook dinner and trim sails 5pm 

- Night Radio Schedule - the Pacific 

Passage Net on 8143 USB and then 

on 12,359 for boats further away in 

distance (higher frequencies propagate 

further and reach over thousands of 

miles) 

5-6 - Dinner and sundowners - We 

eat and have our nightly sundowner 

cocktail with dinner as the sun sets, 

and trim sails 

6-9 - Clean up and get ready for the 

night watch - sometimes night watch 

will take a nap after dinner, etc (and 

trim sails) 

9-3am - Night watch - We mostly do 

two long watches overnight, it works 

for us. We keep a visual lookout for 

any other boats or lights, watch the 

navigation, tend to the boat and sails 

3-9am - Dawn watch - same as above 

- depending on the passage it might 

be cool on deck, might have rain which 

makes for a long night, but if it is calm 

and nothing out, might read, watch a 

movie, blog, etc 

So that is what our days tend to look 

like over a passage. Now that you have 

the basics, we’ll blog on the things 

that happen outside the norms or 

worth noting! 

04/30/2009, Day 16 - Pacific Crossing 

to the Marquesas - 880 miles to go! 

So what’s been going on with 

Nemesis?... so far we have had a 

few critical things break during this 

passage... but we have tools and a 

good supply of spares so all has been 

mostly ok, or I’ve had to “MacGyver” 

it! 

It started 300 miles from Galapagos, 

when our main halyard broke with a 

crack! The sail tumbled merrily down, 

but with a spare block we hoisted in the 

morning on our starboard spinnaker 

halyard. That lasted for 1700 miles, 

but last night it finally separated and 

came crashing down. So once again 

we were sailing under our jib only. Still 

we were moving ok, at about 5 knots, 

losing about 1.5-2 knots without the 

mainsail up. So problem is, we only 

have four halyards that go all of the 

way up to the top of the mast, and 

with the 9 foot seas, I haven’t even 

thought about going up onto the top 

to re-rig the broken halyards. So here 

is our dilemma, we have now broken 

two halyards, and only have the jib 

halyard and port spinnaker halyard left 

(to safely climb the mast, I require at 

least two halyards for a primary and 

then a safety). So we can’t use either 

of the remaining halyards to jury- rig 

something to hoist the main on... 

So that was the state of things last 

night. I lay in bed thinking about it, 

and figured out a way to try to hoist a 

small line all the way to our top, third, 

spreader and then use it to pull the 

broken spinnaker halyard up to run off 

the spreader. It could work I thought... 

so fast forward to this late morning, and 

picture Kirsty and I up on the foredeck, 

small lines, big halyards, three dive 

weights all suspended 50 feet up on the 

mast, swinging, banging and twisting 

itself around EVERYTHING in sight... 

we even had it flip back with one wave 

and twist around the backstay!.... It 

looked like we weren’t going to pull it 

off... and if that happened, my safety 

halyard would have been caught at 

the top of the mast... but with some 

fancy line pulling, we did manage to 

get the weights and all down... then it 

was just a matter of pulling the proper 

ropes up and getting the block set up... 

within hours we had our main hoisted 

and all was well, again! (We have left 

the “mousing” line tied over the third 

spreader, so if the halyard breaks 

again before the Marquesas it will be a 

quick and easy fix! So that has been the 

drama associated with the rigging. 

A few days earlier we felt “Robbie”, 

our autopilot, totally lose the course.... 

no matter what we tried he wouldn’t 

take back over steering... this was at 

7am, mind you... just when Kirsty was 

getting pretty tired from her watch and 

I was still in sleeping mode on mine... 

well, all that changes when something 

critical breaks.... several hours later, I 

had found that the main bolt attaching 

the autopilot to the steering quadrant 

had broke... and with some black 

magic, I managed to re-use some 

existing bolts to get it back working.. 

until we can find or make a new one. 

28

So, all and all we have been pretty 

lucky... but that all came to an end 

on Tuesday afternoon!... the bogger 

broke! (read that as toilet)... There we 

were, 1500 miles from nowhere and 

only the one toilet! So we dug through 

spares.... pulled apart the old one.... 

poked, prodded, cussed at, flushed at, 

and generally tried all the tricks.... and 

failed.... out came the bucket! Granted, 

people have been using nightbowls 

and the outdoors since time began for 

us humans... but you don’t have to like 

it, Kirsty screamed! Hehehehehhe.... 

yeah, we went thru the bucket jokes, 

pooh humour, it was all going on.... 

but at the same time we sorted it 

down to the sewage line being blocked 

somewhere after the toilet and before 

the seacock.... Ugly as it would be, the 

entire v-berth and all of our stored 

supplies would have to be moved in 

the morning to access and find the 

blockage.... NOT looking forward to 

either of those jobs.... but, as luck (and 

frequent, frantic pumping) prevailed.... 

at the watch-change around 3am, the 

blockage pushed thru!!!! The bucket o’ 

Henry was not going to have to be! 

Ahhh... and who says we get bored on 

a 22 day, 3000 mile passage .. 

When the call comes... 

07/04/2009, Moorea, French 

Polynesia 

When the call comes... 

What will you do when the call 

comes? 

Another day in paradise. Anchored 

off Moorea, one of the most beautiful 

islands we’ve ever been at. Kirsty 

and I had spent the morning cleaning 

the hull. Crystal clear water. Water 

so clear, I had seen the shadow of 

Nemesis in the moonlight, reflecting 

off the bottom in the middle of the 

night. That is clear, something you 

don’t forget. For perspective, we were 

anchored off “Poor Fluffy” beach. After 

a few hours on the hull, we had stopped 

and were thinking about lunch. A 200’ 

cruise liner, the four masted square rig 

variety, had pulled into the bay early in 

the morning. While cleaning the boat, 

we had watch two tenders bring water 

sport equipment over near where we 

were. Kayaks to paddle, dinghies to 

sail, all the trappings of a fun cruise 

and beach holiday. Snorkelling is 

superb just off the beach, fish as good 

as on the reef, just for walking off the 

beach. 

Then the call came. Not the normal 

hailing channel 16, but on channel 

17. Kirsty calls me a stalker, as I 

keep a bunch of channels loaded into 

the scan option. I hate listening to a 

conversation and having to tune the 

radio to hear the conclusion. VHF is our 

TV out here. A tender from the cruise 

liner had just pulled up. I had just 

commented to Kirsty that they were 

now practicing life-saving drills on 

the beach. One of the crew in a striped 

black and white shirt had jumped into 

the water and was pushing something 

back to the beach. I figured it was a 

drill, then the call came in. “Help us, 

this is a medical emergency. We need 

help, someone has drowned. Is anyone 

out there?... “ 

I look at the radio, noting it’s on channel 

17, wrong channel for emergencies. 

No one replies. The call comes again. 

The cruise ship had been using 

channel 17 for internal comms. But no 

answer. When the call came, what did 

Star Clipper Cruise lines do? Nothing. 

What will you do when the call comes? 

I pick up the mike and call back, 

asking if they are on the beach right 

off Opunohu bay... He comes back and 

says yes, we need help, someone has 

drowned. I switch the VHF to channel 

16 and put out an all stations call.... 

“All stations, all stations, all stations..., 

this is Nemesis, Nemesis, Nemesis... 

we have a medical emergency on 

the beach at Opunohu bay, possible 

drowning... does anyone have medical 

training?... “I listen for a few seconds 

and no one replies... What will you do 

when the call comes? 

Kirsty and I both have our Advanced 

First Aid tickets, we know CPR... I grab 

the first aid kit, our triage guide, and 

the hand-held VHF. Kirsty gets the 

key to Bongo and we jump in. As I’m 

getting Bongo started the first reply 

comes back. Dremia is 50 minutes out, 

Jan is a nurse... they offer any help they 

can... too far, but we know they are on 

the radio if we need them... What will 

you do when the call comes? Cruisers 

react.... help... it’s our community... 

we make it safe... we look out for each 

other in the far reaches of the world... 

and generally are each other’s only 

safety net... we help each other... 

As we sprint to the beach in Bongo, 

Kirsty is on the VHF, trying to marshal 

additional help. We get to the beach 

and there are over twenty people 

standing around. Several are kneeling 

over a prone figure... They have him 

in right lateral. Training kicks in... he 

should be in left lateral to help drain 

fluids from the lungs... a recovery 

position, so he must be breathing... 

I push into the crowd and look at the 

victim... Someone is pounding his 

back, telling him to breathe... come 

on Roy, breathe! As I get close, I 

start a quick assessment... ABC - 

Airway, Breathing, Compressions... 

the first thing they train you. His lips 

are blue, no signs of life. Kirsty sees 

this and get back on the VHF, calling 

a Mayday, seeing if anyone can access 

an Ambulance. Summoning help. 

I take over the scene; the crew member 

that pulled him out of the water is 

right there, had been trying to drain 

his lungs. I tell him we have to start 

compressions... start CPR right away... 

it’s been over five minutes since I’ve 

heard the call for help.. how long was 

he in the water? No way to know, but we 

do know what we were trained to do... 

answer the call to help, start CPR, and 

summon the professionals. The crew 

member starts compressions, I clear 

the airway, tilt his neck and wait for 

the first pause in compressions... then 

two big puffs into his lungs. Water and 

such gurgles back out of his mouth 

and nose... We clean off as much as 

we can with a beach towel... more 

compressions, more breaths... again 

and again the sequence repeats... still 

no signs of life. His wife is screaming 

at him... encouragement... “Live Roy, 

live... breathe baby... your kids need 

you, your grandkids need you... I need 

you... breathe honey, breathe...”... 

The ambulance is coming by on the 

road, and Kirsty is watching a few of 

the bystanders give a small wave... 

once again, what will you do when 

the call comes? Give a half-hearted 

wave, when someone is dying on the 

beach? Kirsty sprints across the grass 

and waves the ambulance over. They 

arrive and the gear starts coming 

out... One paramedic takes over on 

the compressions from the cruise 

ship crew, the other starts to put on 

a automatic defibulator. I keep doing 

breaths, the paramedic compressions. 

The defib is babbling on in French... 

the paramedic clears us both as it 

prepares to shock... but nothing... 

29

Finally the second paramedic gets 

over with the oxygen and mask, he 

takes over on the breathing. I look 

down and notice that the victim’s lips 

are a faint pink.. the CPR had been 

working... oxygen was being delivered. 

I take over the compressions while the 

first paramedic works on Roy... 

A second fire truck arrives, and 

more help is here... I give up the 

compressions to another fireman... 

we wait and watch as they work... still 

no signs of life. I feel Kirsty come up 

beside me, hugging me, we watch. It’s 

been twenty minutes, a doctor arrives 

and kneels doing a quick evaluation. 

He shakes his head, it’s over. CPR 

stops. 

A man was out snorkelling with his 

wife, and good friends. The cruise 

ship had dropped them off in paradise. 

Then a heart attack? Snorkelling gone 

wrong? A poison sting from a fish? We 

will never know... We answered the call 

when it came, and did what we could, 

what we were trained for... and it felt 

good. The man did not survive, but we 

took the chance and gambled that we 

might be able to help. Thanks to the 

other yachts that answered the call... 

came to the beach... call Port Control 

and got involved... The more I am 

around communities of yachties, the 

more I realize the community we’ve 

created... The call comes, we answer 

it... 

What will you do when the call 

comes? 

08 Cook Islands 

Hiveaa Dance and Drum Festival 

JT 

07/24/2009, Bora-Bora, French 

Polynesia 

After many weeks of hearing the 

drums, we finally got to see one of the 

dancing troupes perform. We are in 

the middle of Hiveaa Festival, which 

showcases dance and drum troupes 

from all of the Polynesian Islands. This 

is our last night in French Polynesia, 

so what a fitting send off for us. The 

dancers were from Rappa Nue, or 

Easter Island, and put on an energetic 

show. The rain didn’t hamper the 

dances, just got them a little wet. From 

some experienced cruisers who had 

seen a lot of shows, we were in for a 

treat. Kirk on Salsa was good enough 

to take Kirsty and I in to town with him, 

as our dinghy was already up on the 

deck. 

The dancers were in traditional dress 

of grass and feather skirts, wraps and 

headpieces. There was a lot of skin 

showing, and strangely none were 

tattooed. Tattooing has only recently 

come back into French Polynesia, 

after the missionaries attempted to 

stamp it out. All of the dancers came 

out with drums backing up the smooth 

and rhythmic motions. The men did 

aggressive hakas and were telling a 

story with their motions. The women 

seemed to smooth and carry the story 

with their dances. Patterns and stories 

emerged with each movement, it was 

a shame we couldn’t understand what 

they were saying, but the dance and 

chants carried the tone perfectly. 

Near the end, the dancers each went 

into the crowd and pulled out people 

in the audience to come do the dance 

with them. On the third time of this, 

a tall Rappa Nue dancer pulled me 

out with them. Thirty dancers and 

thirty audience members swayed and 

mimicked the sways, but only locals 

or the real dancers did it any justice. 

The rest of us just grinned and tried to 

follow the moves. I have to say it was 

pretty fun to do, and I’m sure quite 

funny for Kirsty and Kirk watching 

from the sidelines. 

Now when we sit at anchor, and hear 

drums in the distance, we’ll know what 

we are missing! 

Na-na Bora Bora... na-na. 

Next Stop, Northern Cooks 

KB 

07/25/2009, Leaving Bora Bora, 

French Polynesia 

After 2.5 months in French Polynesia 

we are watching Bora Bora slowly fade 

into the distance, What an amazing 

place, we have loved it here but it’s 

time to move on to the next beautiful 

spot. We originally planned to get 

underway yesterday and were on our 

way to the fuel dock for a last duty free 

refuel before heading out when both of 

us head a very strange sound coming 

from the engine. No water coming out 

of the exhaust pump (bad news for 

our diesel) and lots of white smoke 

steaming out - not a good sign at all. 

I lose it, have a massive hissy fit and 

stamp down below - I’m over things 

breaking all the time, especially since 

we have just waited a week for a part 

- surely something else hasn’t gone 

out this quickly. We decide to go ahead 

and refuel, which is another story in 

itself, it’s always fun coming into a fuel 

dock in 20 knots of wind with no one on 

shore to help with the lines. With that 

out of the way, Jeff calmly sets about 

troubleshooting the engine problem. 

We have no water coming into the 

system to cool down the engine. One 

of us in going to have to dive under 

the boat and see if there is something 

blocking the water passage. Looks 

like I’m up, since Jeff can’t go into the 

salt water with his tattoo yet. I don my 

mask, snorkel and flippers and dive 

under. Happy days, there is a huge 

piece of seaweed stuck in the passage 

- yippee, maybe this is going to be an 

easy fix. Sure enough after clearing 

the passage of the seaweed the engine 

is running as good as new. 

After a quick weather check it looks 

like a big storm front is passing 

through with 20-30 knots and given it’s 

now 4pm we decide to delay our start 

until tomorrow. A good call as it turns 

out, it was a pretty horrible night with 

huge rain squalls all night with gusts 

of wind in the 30kt range - not fun to 

be sailing in. 

So with all that behind us and some 

great times in Bora Bora we have pulled 

up our anchor in French Polynesia for 

the last time and are heading towards 

Tonga - it’s about 1400 miles and we 

expect to be there in about 2 weeks. 

We are going to break the trip for a 

few days in the middle with a stopover 

at Suwarrow, which is a small atoll in 

the Northern Cook Islands. We have 

about 5 days at sea to get to Suwarrow 

and we are both looking forward to 

catching up on some reading and 

movie watching. Hopefully the weather 

window will hold, there has been some 

absolutely terrible weather on this 

passage for the last week with some 

folks experiencing up to 40kts, but 

right now it’s looking good and fingers 

crossed for an easy passage. 


Atoll in the middle of no where... 

JT, Sunny with random rain squalls 

during the day. 

30

07/31/2009, Suwarrow, Cook Islands 

It is such a strange feeling to see 

land after a voyage. We had been at 

sea for five days, with our only human 

contact being the SSB (Single Side 

Band High Frequency radio - Ham 

radio with multiple frequencies that 

bounce off the atmosphere to get the 

radio signal halfway around the earth) 

nets that we check into. Over the last 

few days, we’ve plotted the course of 

other vessels going to Suwarrow and 

Niue and beyond. We even had a social 

invite to help eat a five foot bill fish, on 

the coming Saturday, that was caught 

on the way into Suwarrow. So the radio 

is our lifeline. It also allows us to send 

email and submit these sailblogs on 

the float, so it’s an important part of 

our voyage. 

On the last night at sea, we had our 

VHF radio (good for only line of sight 

distances) crackle to life. Calling us 

was a catamaran called Honeymoon 

(they are actually on a year honeymoon 

crossing the Pacific), with Seth and 

Elizabeth on board. They had picked us 

up, most likely on radar, as being five 

miles ahead of them. At night, most of 

the navigation lights on sailboats work 

for about 2-3 miles. We had a quick 

chat with them. Both of us at been 

slowing down the speed of our boats 

to reach Suwarrow a few hours after 

dawn. The call came at 2am, so I was 

just coming onto watch when Kirsty 

chatted with them. From then on, I 

was focusing on finding their nav light 

as they closed on us and the island. 

Funny how you focus on things you can 

bump into out here. By about 4am, I 

finally had them in sight. We had only 

about 1/3 of our head sail poled out, 

as the wind was coming from dead 

astern, and had been “reefed” in like 

this since dusk the previous night. This 

slowed us down to just under 4 knots 

and gave us an arrival ETA of 8:30am. 

So back to the original thought of 

this blog, we are out in the middle of 

the biggest ocean, far far from any 

continent and land mass. If you look 

at our large scale map that covers 

the entire Pacific Ocean, the islands 

we are on are barely even DOTS! The 

typefaces of the names are the only 

reason you would see them on the 

map, without a magnifying glass. So 

when you’re up on late watch, you tend 

to think. I still marvel at the sailors 

that had to plot their Lat and Long in 

the old days... and the old days were 

only twenty years ago. Now we just 

glance down and see our Lat and Long 

displayed on a GPS, updating several 

times per second. Talk about easy! 

Takes the stress out of approaching a 

reef in the middle of the night. 

At dawn, I finally get to look over to my 

left expecting to see land, but guess 

what? Nothing but rolling sea! The 

main island is supposed to be visible 

from six miles out, but with the sea 

conditions and us skirting up to the top 

of the atoll, it still isn’t close enough to 

see. I can see our friends, Honeymoon 

about two miles off of our port side. 

During the night, they had closed on 

us and crossed over from starboard 

to port closing on the atoll closer than 

we had. Over the next hour, we change 

course just a bit and finally the island 

comes into view. We had also rolled 

out our head sail, and picked up the 

pace back into the 6+ knot range. We 

were still rolling heavily from the seas, 

twenty to thirty degrees to each side 

when the wave trains came through. 

That motion is never comfortable in a 

mono-hull, so both Kirsty and I were 

very glad to see land and know a calm 

anchorage lay ahead! 

With Honeymoon just off our stern, 

by about 1/2 mile, we lined up to 

enter the pass into Suwarrow lagoon. 

Gorgeous! The cliché tropical island 

had finally been found by Kirsty! 

Turquoise water, white sand beaches 

leading up to lofty palm trees! The 

pass was wide and uneventful, but as 

we got into the lagoon a familiar face 

was charging up in his dinghy. George 

and Annie from Trio (we first met 

them on mainland Ecuador then have 

seen them in Galapagos and finally in 

French Polynesia) were here! George 

came out to make sure we got around 

South Reef OK, and then gave us the 

lay of the anchorage. You have to love 

friends like that! We steamed over to 

the anchorage and dropped in 25’ of 

clear water. Once away it’s funny to 

be in the middle of nowhere, but have 

seven other boats around you. Each 

with a story, each with their own trials 

and tribulations, but still having found 

themselves all together in a paradise. 

Ahhhh that’s cruising! 


Paradise is an atoll in the Cooks 

KB 

07/31/2009, Suwarrow, Cook Islands 

We are anchored in Suwarrow, which 

is a large atoll in the Northern Cook 

Islands. It’s stunning here; a real 

postcard and right now we are anchored 

off the most beautiful little island with 

sandy beaches, palm trees and water 

so clear you can see the bottom from 

35 feet. Other boats anchored here 

tell us there are loads of sharks, we 

haven’t braved the water yet but who 

could resist with visibility like that. I 

think I’ll start off close to the shore 

and check out the coral and fish from 

there, maybe I can make a run for the 

beach if I see jaws coming my way. 

It took us 5.5 days to get here and we 

had almost every type of weather on 

the passage, everything from 0 - 35 

knots and seas ranging from pretty 

flat to 3 meters in a washing machine 

with waves coming from two different 

directions. This leg from Bora Bora 

to Tonga is known to have some 

tough weather conditions so we were 

expecting the worst, it wasn’t all that 

bad apart from the huge roll we had for 

the last couple of days getting in here, 

every time we are in dead downwind 

sailing I wish we were in a catamaran! 

Underway again... where did the week 

go? 

KB, Cloudy with rain 

08/06/2009, About 45 miles SW of 

Suwarrow, Cook Islands 

Suwarrow was one of the most magical 

places we have been to on this trip. We 

were lucky enough to spend a week 

there, time just flew by and we could 

have easily stayed longer but we need 

to keep moving. As Jeff mentioned in 

his last blog I finally found my clichéd 

tropical island with palm trees, sandy 

beaches and blue blue water. We could 

see the fish and small back tipped reef 

sharks swimming around our boat 

every day - and the bottom was very 

clear, about 25 feet down - we could 

see the coral bombies our anchor was 

resting behind! 

It’s a national park and part of the Cook 

Islands - our only stop in the Cooks. 

The only way to get there is by private 

boat so it’s very remote, with a ranger 

- John, his wife Veronica and 4 boys 

living on the island for 6 months of the 

year to make sure the cruisers behave 

themselves. You need permission to 

31

go to most parts of the lagoon and it’s 

great to see such a beautiful spot being 

preserved. We originally planned to 

stay for 3 days but ended up spending 

a week while we snorkelled, swam 

and spent lots of time catching up with 

other cruisers. Fish was on the menu 

nearly every night, between a big BBQ 

on Victory Cat one night where the 

whole anchorage was invited over to 

help them devour a bill fish they had 

caught en-route. We were also lucky 

enough to be treated to freshly caught 

Coral Trout caught that day by George 

on Trio - it’s a magnificent tasting 

fish. 

The week went way too quickly for me 

- I can’t believe we are back out here 

for another 700 mile trip, another 5 or 

6 days at sea - this really is a big ocean 

with lots of nothing between spots, but 

after being privileged enough to spend 

a week in Suwarrow it makes it all 

worth it. Tonga here we come! 

Landfall at last in TONGA! 

JT, part cloudy with rain and sun 

08/12/2009, Vava’u Island Group, 

Kingdom of Tonga 

After a 5 day sail, we are safely 

anchored in Tonga. The 700 mile 

passage was a combination of all 

types of weather and sailing, from 

hard on the nose, to rolly swell dead 

down wind. We even had the middle 

bit with no wind and motored for a day. 

But after an interesting night entrance 

(thanks Kirk on Salsa for some great 

GPS coordinates), we are snuggled 

safe and sound in a picturesque bay. 

In the approach to the island, we had 

absolute darkness, with the moon 

due to rise after midnight. We could 

see a small loom of lights from about 

20 miles out, and knew at least some 

islands were there! As we pull closer 

for our approach, wind and squalls 

kicked up into the low 30 knot range. 

Dropping sails calmed the boat a bit, 

but we still were having significant 

windage as we slowly motored the 

three miles to our first way point. We 

actually just kept enough forward 

motion to defeat the howling wind on 

our bow, and keep the boat pointed 

straight ahead, so those three miles 

we stretched into two hours. 

Total darkness at sea is an amazing 

thing. You feel the power and movement 

of the ocean as it rolls to you. The wind 

dictates the direction of the prevailing 

swell, but you have no visual reference. 

Last night, even the stars were mostly 

gone, with full cloud cover. Erie to be 

bobbing about with an island of rock 

nearby, but barely a visual of it. Then, 

right as predicted, the moon starts 

to loom behind the clouds from the 

east. No direct light from it, but it is 

amazing as the waves start to take 

shape. Land becomes blacker than 

the ocean around it, all from the gentle 

glow from a rising moon behind cloud 

cover. With enough light to pick land 

from sea, we were able to increase 

speed and make our entrance safely. 

The charts and electronic charts are 

very helpful, but once you have a slight 

visual to compare them with, all is 

good! 

After anchoring and getting a bite 

to eat, we finally poured our tired 

bodies into bed around 3am. Around 

dawn, I woke and felt the gentle roll 

of a calm anchorage. I climbed up 

and companion way and looked out on 

Tonga for the first time. Tropical birds 

were singing as the sun was breaking 

over the protective hills. Steep green 

hillsides climbed away from the 

anchorage, with the last lights across 

the channel disappearing as the dawn 

receded. With one last glance, I figured 

a little more sleep was warranted! 

Tonga can wait a few more hours. 

From Tonga they sailed to Fiji and then 

New Caledonia. 

Land Ho - We’ve arrived in Australia 

mate. 

KB - Windy, overcast and rain showers 

10/26/2009, Bundaberg, Australia 

After 15 months and 12,000 miles 

we made landfall at Bundaberg in 

Australia last night just before 1am. 

What a great feeling, we will have a 

celebration tonight with my parents - 

they have driven up from Melbourne 

to welcome us into Australia. The 

biggest surprise of all is that our 25 

year old sails made the full journey 

with us through all sorts of weather. 

We gambled that they would make it 

and they did - with a few repairs along 

the way and many many many rolls of 

sail tape - at least Jeff and I can sew 

now. Nemesis has done an amazing 

job getting us here and she is in better 

shape than when we left Mexico - at 

32

no time did we ever feel unsafe on her 

and that’s a great feeling when you are 

out in the middle of nowhere. 

The last few days of the passage from 

New Cal were nice and easy - blue 

sunny skies, light steady winds and 

small swells, just the way sailing 

should be. It turned out to be a lot 

faster than we expected, we averaged 

6 knots for the journey and took just 

under 6 days to cover 800 miles. We 

had a pod of Pilot Whales join us for a 

few hours one of the days, a couple of 

dolphins played in our bow wake for a 

short while yesterday morning. We got 

buzzed by a customs plane yesterday 

as we approached the Australian 

coast. They do a couple of sweeps up 

and down the coastline each day and 

flew over us at about 200 feet - very 

close to the water. A minute or so later 

we were hailed by them on VHF 16 with 

our boat name - they must have good 

binoculars up there - and we gave 

them same basic information about 

the boat and where we were headed, 

they welcomed us to Australia and we 

continued on our way. 

We will spend the morning getting 

checked into Australia - it seems to 

be a pretty streamlined process and 

would want to be - its $330 to check in, 

which is more than we have spent on 

all the other countries we have been 

too combined ouch. We will spend a 

few days here catching up with the 

other boats that did the Port to Port 

rally and checking things out OK yes 

so it is Bundaberg and will most likely 

only take a couple of hours, but we 

will definitely be checking out the rum 

factory for some sampling. 

After that we will spend some time 

exploring Australia - everyone we have 

met who has spent any time along the 

QLD and NSW coastlines tell us its 

beautiful. So for the next 6 or so weeks 

we will mosey down towards Sydney, 

where we will spend XMAS and New 

Years Eve. Let’s hope it’s warm down 

there, we don’t want to have to get out 

our winter woollies in the middle of 

summer. 

Sydney Arrival - the journey ends.... 

JT - Sun and wind, with clouds 

coming 

12/16/2009, Sydney, New South 

Wales, Australia 

Sailing into Sydney is a magnificent 

ordeal. All of the twelve thousand 

miles we have sailed fall away into 

memory as we finally arrive. The trials 

and accomplishment of what we have 

done is fulfilled with the end of the 

journey. 

Sydney harbour is by far the grandest 

harbour into which we have sailed. 

High sandstone heads protect a inner 

harbor that has great arms directly 

ahead and to the left. We leave the 

arm ahead - Middle Harbor, and the 

Northern Harbor of Manly for later 

exploration. We proceed to the left 

down into Port Jackson and the city 

of Sydney. The harbour is a hive of 

activity, with ferry traffic of all sizes, 

pleasure motor boats, sailors galore, 

it’s all happening on Sydney Harbour. 

Kirsty was snapping away photos as I 

steered us through the mayhem. 

We have picked an excellent day to 

arrive, as the Maxi yachts are racing in 

the Big Boat Challenge. Super Maxis 

are racing sailboats of incredible size 

and speed. Just under 30m or 98- 

foot, they have masts that tower up 

42 meters (~140 feet), so compared 

to Nemesis with a 18.5 meter mast 

(60 feet) they dwarf us. With cruising 

speeds of 12 knots under motor and 

up to 35 knots under sail, they can 

MOVE! A few of the big maxi’s were 

practicing and coming right at us. 

A small correction and these huge 

sailboats roar past us, yet hardly make 

a sound. 

We continued into the harbor and 

rounded Bradleys Head and watched 

as the Opera House and Harbor Bridge 

made their appearance. Spectacular! 

They make the view of the harbor and 

without them, Sydney would just be 

another big city port. We sail further in 

and snap off hundreds of photos, hard 

to believe we are actually here after 

all the time coming across the Pacific. 

With the Opera House and Bridge 

photos complete, we return down the 

harbor to position ourselves for the 

Big Boat Challenge. 

With the racing done, we settle into 

the protected anchorage by the Sydney 

Zoo. It is a perfect view of the city, 

Opera House and Harbor Bridge as we 

sip cocktails and watch twilight come. 

Occasional ferry wakes gently rock us 

as we soak in the view... 

Ahhh Sydney... we are finally home... 

Worth Visiting. 

I didn’t get to sail over Easter, but did 

enjoy a fabulous day at the California 

Yacht Club. Having contacted CYC 

via email beforehand, and armed 

with a Letter of Introduction from 

RMYS, a Guest Pass was issued on 

the spot and we were made to feel 

very welcome. 

A visit to CYC at Marina Del Rey is 

a ‘must’ to anyone passing through 

LA (particularly the 3 hour silver 

service Sunday brunch!). 

When I say silver service I mean it 

- it’s about A$35 - silver containers 

of eggs Benedict, steak, bacon, 

sausages, platters of salmon, herring 

and other seafood, salads, sliced 

meats , cheese, fruits, a chocolate 

fountain to dip marshmallows, a 

zillion types of desserts, champagne 

etc. - all overlooking the marina. 

(Did I mention the swimming pool 

and tennis courts?!, or the ongoing 

afternoon nibbles such as plates of 

calamari, pastries etc.) 

Roz Curnow 

33

RMYS 25 Year Membership Dinner 

34

RMYS Yacht Register 

YACHT SAIL NUMBER OWNER 

Silk S2 Ken Simpson, Greg Bourne 

Tina of Melbourne S3 Burkhard Herrmann 

Safari S4 Stephen Hawes 

Bushido S6 Peter Chapman 

Corniche S10 Peter Davey 

Flambuoyant S11 Eugene Dogne 

Lady of St Kilda S12 Alan Murfett 

How Bizzare S13 Stephen Reddish, Peter Haug 

Gienah S14 Rod Miller 

Addiction S16 Peter Davison, Richard McGarvie 

Sunshine S18 Leon Borelli 

Chanson De Lecq S19 Allan Coxson 

Entourage S20 Ken Simpson, Heather Simpson 

Krista S24 Duncan Blake 

Dalliance S25 Bruce Garmston, Graeme Pettingill 

Ceilidh Lass S26 Andrew Johnson, Fiona Cunningham 

Akala S27 David McNeice 

Silhouette S28 Nathan Scanlon 

In The Drink S30 Jeff Whiteside 

Club Comedie S32 Michael Eger, Darren Eger 

Emaline S34 Vincent O’Donnell 

Sundowner S36 John Carroll 

Beyond Outrageous S37 Antony Warren 

Moomba S38 Warwick Hutchins 

Allegro Non Troppo S39 David Mattiske 

Portofino S43 Stuart Tait, Greg Marino, Terry Johnson 

Eureka S45 Harry Russell, Ewen Russell 

Evasion S46 Geoffrey Chambers 

Mrs Overnewton S47 Leslie Norton 

Boambilee S51 Chris Chapman, George Fisscher, Michael Rhodes 

Matrix S54 Keith O’Donnell 

Avanale S55 Philip Mark Battey 

36


Hoffnung S61 Bernie Wendlandt 

Remedy S62 Russell Hibbert, Brian Burggraaf 

Charlotte S64 Ross Flood 

Natani S67 Graham Gill, Sandra Gill 

Hotshot S70 Terry Swalwell 

Reckless S74 John Clancy 

Rhinoceros S82 Angus McKenzie 

Gadfly S83 Trevor Burridge 

Maggie S87 Rod Bridgborn 

Augusta 8 S88 Rowan Findlay 

Red Dog S90 Gus Dawson 

Sea Eagle S91 Kevin Curtis 

Galatea S93 George Low 

Sonia S94 Peter Williams 

Panda S98 Anthony Callanan 

Topaz S99 Phillip Grundy 

Flipper S99A Phillip Grundy 

Meridian Passage S100 Rohan Brownlee 

Chardonnay S101 Kevin Barron, Neil Finlayson 

Masumi S102 Joanne Morley 

Lokate S108 John Marshall 

Tanakee S117 Serge Sardo 

Shearwater S120 Rosslyn Curnow 

Blue Ribband S121 Terry Hill, Sue Masey 

Exocet S124 Max Nankervis 

Short Cut S132 Paul Menhenett 

Vagrant S133 James Holroyd, David Connolly 

Obsession S134 Malcolm Coram, Carol Wicher 

Skye S142 Peter McCabe 

Woodstock S163 Anthony Barbour 

Via Mia S172 William O’Day 

Revenge S178 Dennis Vuckovic 

Mandu S179 Phil Brierley 

Oleana S180 Howard Lokon 

Salamander III S191 Christopher Jones 

Take Five S197 Jurgen Pfeiffer 

Nuevo S201 Michael Grabowsky 

Coranto S203 Julian Smibert 

Iguana S207 Peter Bowerman 

Eric Jay S210 Benjamin Taylor 

San Miguel S216 Russell Walton 

Asti S218 Pamela Evans 

Pazazz S220 Phillip Grundy 

Wirralie S229 Michael Crewdson 

Koa-Atea S250 Wilhelm Nienhaus 

Morning Hustler S252 Sam Cowell 

Kiki S255 Jamie Rothnie 

37


Shackle S256 James Harrison 

Astarte S262 David Kelly 

Walu S269 Barry Thompson 

Y Pont Sawdde S270 Bruce Rogers 

Sancha S282 Peter Crosthwaite 

Ubique S320 David Steel 

Cetaceous S330 John Rose 

Flying High S331 Stephen Ambrus 

Quartermaster S332 Duncan Blake 

White Swan S349 Peter Henry 

SIREN S350 Brian McDermott 

New Morning II S381 Mark Buckley 

Jazz Player S390 Andrew Lawrence 

Deep End S396 David Bleazby 

Cling Two S400 Rob Jones 

Silicon Chip S425 Jack Setton, Albert Kaminsky 

All That Jazz S431 Bruce Walters 

Aoma S433 Michael Black 

Akuna S440 Mark Whitehouse 

Sagitta S452 David Mileshkin 

Saltire S511 Mark Doggett 

Little Mermaid S533 Richard Ellis 

Rivacold S580 Peter Abramson 

Spirit S660 Paul Murphy, Nigel Brennan 

Spellbound S694 Ian Ewing 

Fandango S794 Michael Reeve, Tim Schneider 

Take One S800 Michael Findlay, Robert Murraylee 

Leilani S808 Chris Mazzotta, Debbie Mazzotta 

Anastasia S818 Patrick Worsley 

Justine S831 Andrew Cumming 

Pacesetter S890 Chester Cairns 

Cloud Nine S910 David Casley, Geoff Matthews, Alistair Trimble 

Papadilo S999 John Spiteri 

Hands & Heels S1369 David Sainsbury 

Cafe Latte S1800 Howard Lokon 

Windward II S1929 James Woods 

Lonsdale S1935 Michael Innes 

Sanmarkay S1953 David Martin 

Kakadu S2603 Timothy Woods 

Myaura S3141 John Regan, Mark Pigdon, Ralph Fallows 

Sublime S3330 Chris Coghlan 

Present Laughter S4209 Paul McGill 

Doris Jean S5934 Stephane Molle 

38

Mood Indigo S8000 Colin McGregor, Keith Chatto 

Matador S8640 Murray McCutcheon, Michael Morse 

Tramp S8888 Chris Thien 

Sonsy YCO4 Barry Scott, Lindy Scott 

Weapon Of Choice 19 Stuart Burns, Jim Oosterweghel 

Dingo 200 James Hutchinson 

Fortress 444 Gus Cole 

Pocahontas AUS36 Paul Griggs 

Dorothy AUS53 Mark Hayman 

Tigris AUS61 Ian Lodewyckx, Alison Binks 

Westerly H28 Terry Hill, Sue Masey 

Mustang Sally SB1 Mark Lawrence 

YACHT REG NUMBER OWNER 

William Paterson RM50 RMYS Boat 

Tin Fish RM53 RMYS Boat 

Big George RM54 RMYS Boat 

Wally R RM55 RMYS Boat 

Squadron 6 RM56 RMYS Boat 

Bulldog RM57 RMYS Boat 

Albatross RM58 RMYS Boat 

39

40 

Capricorn III Sails the Pacific

It’s All In The Name 

My yacht’s name is Hotshot. I note 

that in yachting correspondence, some 

people are inclined to sign with their 

name and then their yacht’s name. 

You can probably understand I am 

prevented doing that by a becoming 

modesty. It’s bad enough using the 

radio. 

So that is one reason I am interested 

in boat names and the reasons why 

people name their boats (or don’t 

change them). The other is the folklore 

and superstitions that surround boat 

names. I haven’t changed mine, not 

because of the superstition of bad luck, 

but because it completed 3 Sydney 

Hobarts under that name, which is 

three more than I will do. That didn’t 

stop Andrew Johnston whose yacht 

was previously named Wheelbarrow 

and which achieved a second place 

in the Sydney Hobart from changing 

to Ceilidh Lass. His previous yacht 

was Highland Ceilidh - something of 

a pattern there but fortunately, I don’t 

recall seeing Andrew in a kilt and 

dancing. 

So what about some of the other 

vessels in the Squadron? 

The club’s workboats are or were 

named after boats on the first batch of 

yachts entered on the Club’s register 

in 1876. 

Thus we had Dauntless – now off 

our register; Albatross – replacing 

a former patrol / rescue boat of the 

same name and Bulldog. 

William Paterson is a bit different. 

Bought from the Newcastle Harbour 

authority, she came with the name 

of the Lieutenant Colonel of the 

NSW Corps who was instrumental in 

founding the port of Newcastle And 

the city of Launceston. Paterson is 

reputed to have fought a duel with 

Colonel Macarthur at one time. 

William Paterson also discovered and 

founded Georgetown at the mouth of 

the Tamar River in Tasmania, and after 

whom Paterson Street in Launceston 

is named. 

Historical connections include Lady of 

St Kilda (S12) The City of St. Kilda took 

its name from a schooner of that name 

scuttled and used for sea bathing near 

the site of the pier. Eureka (S45) with 

her distinctive spinnaker obviously 

commemorates the Eureka Stockade. 

Blue Ribband is the prize for the fastest 

Atlantic crossing by a passenger liner. 

Still from the northern hemisphere, 

Pocahontas was the American Indian 

Princess who married the settler, 

John Rolfe. 

Some boats celebrate family 

connections. 

Steve Burnham writes “My boat’s name 

is the Sara Luisa. It was built in 1962 in 

Rye by Alec Lacco, and would be called 

a couta boat these days. It didn’t have a 

name until I got it, but even then went 

nameless for a few years. … it was built 

for my father, who was a professional 

fisherman with his three brothers 

down the southern end of the bay and 

outside. So the boat for as long as I can 

remember was simply “the 24 footer”. 

There was the “27 footer” and the “20 

footer”. I don’t think other boats were 

referred to other than “Uncle So-andso’s 

boat”, or “the net dinghy” or “the 

white dinghy”. When a cousin retired 

from fishing I managed to get the boat 

my Dad had used originally (although 

everyone had worked in her). A name 

became obvious (and it’s nothing new, 

I realise) when my two daughters 

came along. First Sara, then Luisa. So 

there you go. 

“The boat always had a mast but by 

the time she was built engines were 

very reliable and so she didn’t sail 

while working. Hence she was built a 

bit fuller in the stern than the other 

boats (which were older) to take the 

downward pull of the big prop. 

“The mast was only ever used to hoist 

a perch up for spotting for fish to net. 

I still have the “seat” and rope ladder 

in my roof, just as a keepsake. When 

I was a kid I rescued one of the old 

canvas lug sails from the fishing shed 

rafters and tried it out. Worked great 

(“oh, that brings it all back for me” 

said my Dad when I showed him what 

I’d done.) Wish I’d taken better care of 

the canvas sail now! 

“The other boats certainly worked 

under sail before and after the war. 

Generally only one man per boat 

when hooking, coutering or longlining. 

Seine netting would need at least 

two”. (Steve has posted some old 

film of his family fishing on YouTube 

that, along with the information above 

celebrates a way of life now vanished – 

follow the link http://au.youtube.com/ 

watch?v=7Crsk0zNwG4 ) 

Another family name is the Adams 40, 

“Papadilo” named after owner John 

Spiteri’s grandchildren Paul, Patrick, 

Diane and Loretta. 

One yacht that may reflect the interests 

of her captain and crew is Phil Battey’s 

“Avanale”. Don’t ask them about the 

name or you’ll probably be told “Don’t 

mind if I do.” Other yachts with a play 

on words are Flambuoyant and Karma 

Daze. 

Matador would seem to refer to the 

yacht design, Bull 30. 

Other names of yachts on the register 

that appear to have some common 

connections 

There are the musical connections 

that may exist. For example, is Cloud 

Nine (S910) named after a feeling of 

euphoria or the George Harrison or 

The Temptations albums? 

Mood Indigo (S8000) is a jazz 

composition and song, music by Duke 

Ellington and Barney Bigard with 

lyrics by Irving Mills. Jazz Player isn’t 

specific but Allegro Non Troppo (S39) 

is a directive “fast but not too much”. 

Take Five with its musical notation 

on the stern quarter honours Dave 

Brubeck’s composition. 

‘How Bizarre’ [S13] started from a 

yacht charter for Hamilton Island Race 

Week in 1999 where it was decided to 

call her “How Bizarre” after the OMC 

song of the same name, a perfect fit 

given the eclectic nature of the Crew 

with backgrounds ranging through 

lawyer, plumber, physio, carpet 

wholesaler and systems analyst. In 

2007 they got together again when a 

couple of them purchased a 36’ Whiting 

and re-christened her “How Bizarre’. 

The logo (being a 3 faced Indian) came 

from a computer graphics book to 

again represent their eclectic natures. 

Take One (S800) should have some 

reference to filming as should 

Spellbound (S694) honour the 1945 

Alfred Hitchcock film with Ingrid 

Bergman, Gregory Peck. 

And now, from films to the stars, 

Sagitta (S452) is a constellation. Its 

name is Latin for arrow, Gienah (S14) 

has two claims, Gienah in Corvus, is 

a star in the Corvus constellation or 

42

Gienah in Cygnus, which is a star in 

the Cygnus constellation. The word 

“Gienah “derives from the Arabic, 

Al-Janah, and meaning “The wing”. 

We also have place names; Wirralie 

(S229) is a Queensland grazing 

property and also a Gold Mine. If you 

meet the owner of Skye (S142), you’ll 

get a clue of from where the name 

comes. Y Pont Sawdde (s270) is a 

bridge on the Afon Sawdde, a river in 

southwest Wales and associated with 

the owner’s father. Portofino (s43) is a 

posh Italian Resort and Tigris (AUS61) 

is the famous river of antiquity (and a 

reference to the Flying Tiger design). 

Hobart and All That Jazz 

Other cultures are represented, 

Bushido (S51) the “Way of the Warrior”, 

a Japanese code of conduct and the way 

of the samurai. Astarte (S262) is the 

Greek form of the name of a goddess 

connected with fertility, sexuality, and 

war. Pictorial representations often 

show her naked which may explain the 

design on the bow. 

From the world of natural history we 

have Sea Eagle (S91) Rhinoceros (S82), 

Cetaceous (S330). 

And then there is Evasion (S46). A 

no-doubt-apocryphal story associates 

this name with a previous owner who 

had a background in tax matters. 

Sonsy (YC04) refers to a woman having 

a large bosom and pleasing curves; 

Ubique (S320) is Latin for everywhere 

(no connection with the previous yacht 

name). 

There’s also the truly apocryphal tale 

of the chap who was having trouble 

with his wife Ruth and a new boat. 

After a lot of unpleasantness, an 

ultimatum was delivered – “It’s me of 

the boat!” So – the boat was called 

– “Ruthless” but for a true story of a 

boat jointly owned by a psychiatrist and 

a blind chap that raced in a number of 

Sydney-Hobarts in the– “Out of Sight, 

Out of Mind” – true!!” 

New Year’s Eve in Hobart - Jazz style 

What happens when you arrive in 

Hobart after a gruelling 4 day trip and 

are promptly put in charge of catering 

arrangements for that night’s New 

Years Eve festivities? 

Answer : Ingenuity comes to the fore ! 

These plucky, well known and not so 

well dressed, RMYS members decided 

to commandeer the nearest mode of 

conveyance available and headed to 

the local bottle shop to stock up on the 

really important items first ! 

It is reliably reported that the night 

was a resounding success, even if the 

dress code left a lot to be desired. 

43

Trophy Winners 2007-2008 

TROPHY BOAT SKIPPER 

Eric Wareing S910 - Cloud Nine David Casley/Ian Lodewyckx 

Winter Series S101 - Chardonnay Kevin Barron/Neil Finlayson 

RMYS LD Series S70 - Hotshot Terry Swalwell 

Justine S26 - Ceilidh Lass Andrew Johnson 

Lodders S91 - Sea Eagle Kevin Curtis 

J.H.McDonald S55 - Avanale Philip Battey 

Jo Johanessen S55 - Avanale Philip Battey 

L.A.Nangle S70 - Hotshot Terry Swalwell 

Ranee S91 - Sea Eagle Kevin Curtis 

Charles Marshall S47 - Mrs Overnewton Les Norton 

Bert Watts S90 - Red Dog Gus Dawson 

W.T.Crosbie S101 - Chardonnay Kevin Barron/Neil Finlayson 

Edward Lumley S91 - Sea Eagle Kevin Curtis 

Cactus Cup S90 - Red Dog Gus Dawson 

Squadron Trophy S70 - Hotshot Terry Swalwell 

Squadron Plate TBA 

Doc Bennell S250 - Koa-atea Wilhelm Nienhaus 

Services Shield S91 - Sea Eagle Kevin Curtis 

RMYS LD Series S70 - Hotshot Terry Swalwell 

Cummins Cup S694 - Spellbound Ian Ewing 

Cummins Cup S694 - Spellbound Ian Ewing 

Dick Lean S47 - Mrs Overnewton Les Norton 

Cummins Cup TBA 

Agar Wynne S660 - Spirit Paul Murphy 

International Cup S2 - Silk Ken Simpson 

Ruth Nangle S390 - Jazz Player Andrew Lawrence 

Jeanette Turnbull TBA 

Moomba Cup TBA 

Jennifer Goldsmith S6 - Bushido Margaret Ludowyk 

Squadron Cup S16 Addiction Peter Davison/Richard Mc Garvie 

Big Bay S660 - Spirit Paul Murphy 

Cheel Cup S8640 - Matador Murray McCutcheon 

Major Morkham S91 - Sea Eagle Kevin Curtis 

Harry Anderson S26 - Ceilidh Lass Andrew Johnson 

Div 1 AMS Agg S390 - Jazz Player Andrew Lawrence 

Div 2 AMS Agg S62 - Remedy Brian Burggraaf/Russell Hibbert 

Div 3 AMS Agg S694 - Spellbound Ian Ewing 

Div 1 IRC Agg S390 - Jazz Player Andrew Lawrence 

Div 2 IRC Agg S62 - Remedy Brian Burggraaf/Russell Hibbert 

Div 3 IRC Agg S8000 - Mood Indigo Colin McGregor/Keith Chatto 

44

Trophy Winners 2008-2009 

TROPHY RACE BOAT SKIPPER 

Eric Wareing MWM Best 20 races S26 Ceilidh Lass Andrew Johnson 

Winter Series Spinnaker S62 Remedy Brian Burgraaf/Russell Hibbert 

Justine MWM Best 30 S45 Eureka Harry Russell 

Lodders MWM Best start S45 Eureka Harry Russell 

J.H.McDonald Winter Pursuit S3330 Sublime Chris Coghlan 

Ian Ewing MWM Series 1 S241 Leonie J.Kesterton 

Ian Ewing MWM Series 2 S26 Ceilidh Lass Andrew Johnson 

Ian Ewing MWM Series 3 S262 Astarte David Kelly 

Jo Johanessen Twilight Pursuit S3330 Sublime C.Coghlan 

L.A.Nangle Twilight Pursuit S6 Bushido P.Chapman 

Ranee Best start twilight S16 Addiction R.McGarvie/P.Davison 

Charles Marshall 3 race series S16 Addiction R.McGarvie/P.Davison 

Edward Lumley 3 race series S425 Silicon Chip J.Setton 

Bert Watts Charles Marshall R1 S16 Addiction R.McGarvie/P.Davison 

W.T.Crosbie E.Lumley R1 S16 Addiction R.McGarvie/P.Davison 

Squadron Trophy Long Race S216 San Miguel Russell Walton 

Squadron Plate AMS/IRC winner Sq T S216 San Miguel Russell Walton 

BBC Best Log Big Bay Race -best log Sm391 Boots George Shaw 

Doc Bennell Long race S250 Koa-Atea W.Nienhaus 

Cummins Cup Div 1 Range S54 Matrix K.O'Donnell 

Cummins Cup Div 2 Range S47 Mrs Overnewton Les Norton 

Cummins Cup Div 3 Range S55 Avanale Phil Battey 

Cactus Cup E.Lumley R2 S425 Silicon Chip Jack Setton 

Agar Wynne Geelong passage S660 Spirit P.Murphy 

International Cup Div 1laid course S14 Gienah Rod Miller 

Dick Lean C.Marshall R3 S47 Mrs Overnewton Les Norton 

Services Shield E.Lumley R3 S250 Koa-Atea W.Nienhaus 

Ruth Nangle RMYS-Blairgowrie S25 Dalliance G.Pettinghill/B.Garmston 

Jeanette Turnbull Blairgowrie-RMYS S25 Dalliance G.Pettinghill/B.Garmston 

Moomba Cup Spinnaker Race S800 Take One M.Findlay/R.Murraylee 

Jennifer Goldsmith Lady Skipper S250 Koa-Atea V.Lhermet 

Cheel Cup Div 1 YV Agg S16 Addiction R.McGarvie/P.Davison 

Major Morkham Div 2 YV Agg S47 Mrs Overnewton Les Norton 

Harry Anderson Div 3 YV Agg S55 Avanale Phil Battey 

Mrs Charles Marshall Div 1 AMS Agg S16 Addiction R.McGarvie/P.Davison 

Keith McGregor Div 2 AMS Agg S62 Remedy B.Burgraaf/R.Hibbert 

Grace Trophy Div 3 AMS Agg S694 Spellbound Ian Ewing 

MMI Trophy Div 1 IRC Agg S390 Jazz Player Andrew Lawrence 

Alice Victoria Cup Div 2 IRC Agg S191 Salamander 111 Chris Jones 

Jan Marshall Div 3 IRC Agg S8000 Mood Indigo Keith Chatto/C.McGregor 

Squadron Cup Big Bay Race S250 Koa-Atea W.Nienhaus 

Percy Damman RMYS Long distance S250 Koa-Atea W.Nienhaus 

RMYS LD Series Div 1 S16 Addiction R.McGarvie/P.Davison 

RMYS LD Series Div 2 S26 Remedy B.Burgraaf/R.Hibbert 

RMYS LD Series Div 3 S250 Koa-Atea W.Nienhaus 

45

royal melbourne yacht squadron 2009-2010 - Yachting Victoria ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?