Sailing with a Black Snake!

A couple of weeks ago we all headed out to Rumbo, the Holbert brothers Mumm 30, to set up and rig the boat for the Saturday afternoon race with Port Stephens Yacht Club. We had a bit of a surprise waiting for us onboard. A Black Snake had decided to curl up inside one of the sheet bags! Michael Lee had been pulling ropes out of the bag just before i went to stick my hand in there and noticed something moving...

We locked up all the hatches with the kids safely down below decks and out of the way before discussing what next?!?! Clarke Holbert gamely used a big stick to tip the snake out of the bag and it slithered off down the cockpit and dived into the water and swam off. I was surprised it wasn't pissed off at us. Needless to say we'll be checking those sheet bags every time we sail. What the hell would we have done if the thing had appeared out of the bag while we were sailing? How did it get in there in the first place? Rumbo is on a mooring! When Gibbo checked in with the race starter he called 6 POB and a black snake, so we were covered just in case!

To Venture Further...

Anyone who was at my retirement party 3 years ago would have heard me boldly declare that I was, one day, going to sail around Cape Horn. I have always had visions, dreams, call them what you will of sailing around the World. So, when an opportunity comes knocking you just have to grab it and hang on, that's always been my philosophy. While I was at the Sydney Boat Show earlier this year I met Tony Mowbray and was so impressed with his sailing expedition company I left my name on a contact list. Tony runs the trips out of Ushuaia, the World's southernmost city on the tip of Argentina in Tierra del Fuego - the Land of Fire. Two weeks ago I had a call from Tony's company offering me a half price ride to the Antarctic Peninsula via Cape Horn. So of course I contacted my US Navy mate Spanky and the rest is soon to be history. We sail out of Ushuaia on 13 Jan 2009 for a 24 day trip which will be one of those rare events some unfortunate people never have the good fortune, opportunity, desire or motivation to ever experience in their comfortable lives. I am in no doubt that this may be the toughest, most challenging thing I have ever done, but that's the sort of stuff that makes us get out of bed in the morning and sets us apart from the other animals...

We'll be sailing across Drake Passage, probably the most notorious stretch of water on the planet. Things that make you go HMMMMMM! Just looking at the geography you know that the winds, waves and currents are something special! You can get a live weather feed showing wind and wave heights on Passageweather.com, just click on the maps until you get to the southern tip of South America. The link is on the right - and yes, the wave heights are in METRES not feet!



Tony Mowbray's website is worth a look, he's sailed around the World single-handed and now spends his winters doing the promotional speach circuit and his Austral summers running trips around Cape Horn, down to the Antarctic Peninsula and to Islas Malvinas, the Falkland Islands. Follow the link at right to his website -

Expeditions are conducted in his 60 foot schooner "COMMITMENT" here shown at anchor somewhere on the Antarctic Peninsula:

This is a bit of a personal challenge for me in more ways than one. Having wrestled with CFS for the past 8 years it has been the dream of once again being in the outdoors and being adventurous that has kept me going through the tough times. Time to give it a go and see how the dice roll out. The beauty of Tony's trips is that you can be as involved in running the boat as you like, so it suites my situation prefectly. He's quite happy to let you helm the boat or help out with navigation, whatever takes your interest. I can't wait to get some time up on the helm under the tutelage of a master mariner who's really been there and done it.

Queensland Regatta Circuit

AIRLIE BEACH RACE WEEK

Well, its about time I added a blog about the winter regatta circuit in Queensland! I travelled up to Airlie Beach with Michael Lee to race onboard Storm 2 in the Airlie Beach Race Week held 14 - 28 August. Storm is such a great boat to sail on! We were powering upwind doing 11-13 knots at 20-24 degrees apparent in less than 20 knots of breeze! That's impressive! The carbon Warwick 66 is a flyer and very deceptive, a wolf in sheeps clothing! I think we gave a few of the IRC boy racers a bit of a shock especially in the long upwind haul of the passage race. I certainly learned a lot throughout the week. Its great to race with guys like Glenno and Brad who have a number of Sydney Hobarts between them. They know their stuff.

"The Brains Trust" L to R: Bob, Cocky, Don and Glenno

Cocky and Don set up the GPS for the day's course:


98 feet of carbon mast, impressive!

Don on the wheel upwind:


We had a crew of 12 at Airlie. A mixed bag of individuals with varying levels of knowledge and experience which is one of the great things about yacht racing. You're all on a level playing field on the water!

Cocky, World's hardest working mainsheet trimmer!


What the...! Almost got my feet wet!

Brad trimming the big assym:

The foredeck crew, Gudge hiding behind the mast, Blue, Ben and Glenno:

The hot washup, so how'd we go boys and did someone remember to turn the ice machine on?!?!?

The results? We did well, first on handicap in our Division (Cruising with spinnakers), after a tense final race around the bouys we won by a bare half point. We also managed to take out the regatta Line Honours Trophy for having the biggest winning margin in any Division. A job well done! There was much rejoicing and more than a few sore heads the next day!!!

MAGNETIC ISLAND RACE WEEK

We had a slightly different crew for MIRW. The famous 'Vasco' joined us from the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Jack Wells also joined Storm all the way from Tassie. Mike, Gudge, Blue and Cocky had prior commitments so unfortunately couldn't be there with us. We were at times a little short handed, but the races weren't too long nor the conditions too tough so we managed to cope OK.
The motley crew: Front: Vasco, Middle Row L to R: Bob, Argentinian backpacker girl, Don; Back Row L to R: me, Pete, Glenno, Ben, Jack


There certainly wasn't the festive regatta atmosphere that you get at Airlie, but it's only early days yet for this regatta, I'm sure the organisers will keep building on what is a strong foundation. How did we go? 4th in our Division on handicap (if you include 2 cats ahead of us - why would you attempt to rate catamarans in the same division as monos?!?!?!) Such is life. It was all good fun and I enjoyed doing a few different jobs onboard this time around.




Relaxing in The Tinny after a hard day on the water, funny, there was a 3 million dollar yacht a few feet away...!


Big boat racing and crew work is certainly different to dinghies and sportsboats - the skills and knowledge required are the same though - but its just as enjoyable. You read a lot of blowhard rubbish by people, especially on Sailing Anarchy, regarding crewing on 'luxury' yachts. I'm more of the mind that if you're out on the water sailing it pretty much doesn't matter what you're sailing if you're out there having a good time.

Storm ready for departure and the trip home to Airlie:

Thanks to Don for the opportunity to sail on his beautiful boat and to all the guys and girls onboard for a great time on the water and off!

Unfortunately there is a sad note, I had word the day before the end of the regatta that a good RAAF mate of mine and Cocky's: Mark 'Fish' Edwards committed suicide early in the week after a long struggle with depression. So, look after yourselves, look out for your friends and family and send a donation to Beyond Blue (follow the link on the right) to help out people who are not as fortunate as ourselves.