scott.projectsomewhere

So when will I start saying no to these things? It seems every
other day I’m up for nomination or election to some committee or
another.

I’ve just been informed that I’m on the Yachting Australia
Athlete’s Committee - after losing the vote (lucky I didn’t take
the time to vote myself). The winner took the Olympic Class slot,
so I moved into the International & Recognised Classes place.
No idea really who voted for me - or why… but that’s what you
get.

Add that to the pile along with the others.

If anyone has anything they’d like me to raise with the
Athlete’s Committee, drop me an email and I’ll see what we can
do.

In other news, Jack has left the 18 footers to go and run the
entire Pegasus Racing program.
Anyone out there interested in running the 18 footer fleet?

That was Jono’s call as we slapped our way upwind, on the way home
in a 20 knot Southerly aboard the 30′x12′ punt. Needless to say I
was envious of the people out enjoying the good breeze on their
sailing boats - motoring is not mypreferred method of
transport.

Fishing on the bbq boat was part of Mark’s buck’s day, which
continued on with more bbq’s then a pub crawl through Newcastle.
Good stuff - but not so good when you have to get up at 5am to
drive back to Sydney and race the following morning.

Anyway, the “aerodynamic like a brick” comment came back as we
raced Sydney 36’s around the bouys in Ruscutter’s bay in the
NSW Corporate
Games. Yes, we did have a complete lemon of a boat, but we
still sailed pretty poorly to finish 4th in our heat, and miss the
final by a long way. 9 crew in light airs probably wasn’t a smart
idea either.

But there was an upside of course… missing the finals gave me the
afternoon off - and the chance to race on the 18 before the season
winds up in a few weeks. The annual Queen of the Harbour race was
on, with Pete’s girlfriend Geraldine on our boat getting plastered
by the spray in the top of big-rig wind. Our 8 minute handicap came
in handy - and we didn’t break anything. Geraldine is the new (and
wet) Queen. Nice to see the
Churchill’s pull out the good performances when it
counts!

A whole week an no repairs to do… maybe I can spend the time
figuring out what to do with my Moth - when it arrives.

Well I just typed out this long blog post on my ’suggestions’ for
the 13′ skiff after sailing in on the weekend… but then I hit
back and lost it.

Probably better that I didn’t write all that down anyway eh.

Q. So what boat would I buy if I had unlimited cash?

A. Atomic (among others of course).

A very nice piece of gear. The accommodation on board is not much
chop, but this thing is one sexy piece of black carbon. The
hydraulics in the canting keel need a little damping, and some
composite rigging would be nice, but overall this boat (and its
owner) have an awesome sense of style… and speed.

I just want them to hurry up and build the 70′ version… then the
competition would be on for the red t-shirts!

So it turns out that Laser sailors were crazy all along - but
everyone else knew that anyway.

3 time Olympian Michael Blackburn is attempting to cross Bass Strait in a
Laser. No offense Michael, but that is one of the stupidest
things I have every heard of. Sure Nick Maloney did it on a
windsurfer - but a windsurfer does 20+ knots easily, a Laser does 8
knots if your lucky with a lot of hard work.

I’d guess I would be pretty frustrated after slapping around in
tupperware for years too. How long before Rohan decides to top that and
fly across
in his latest foiler Moth?

And in other news, it sounds like the builder of RS boats in the UK
has been bagging the flying Moths at the London boatshow, claiming
they need special permits to sail since they’re in the same
category as hydrofoils or hovercrafts, not sailing boats. That’s
always been the sign of a succesful company - bag someone elses
product instead of talking about your own.

Now there’s a few good reasons to produce the authentic Laser shirt
with an ‘o’ for the ‘a’.

Update #1. Blackburn made it, though it appears it was all a
publicity stunt to get a spot in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Update #2. Looks like Rohan might be interested after
all…

Breaking News… yes, literally.

This is becoming a little too repetitive don’t you think? Almost
every time I seem to go sailing these days I come back with hard
luck stories about equipment failure. Trust me, I’m over it.

Anyway, we had Charles (Fabio) down for the day to fill in for Pete
who was off rubbing shoulders with Schu (and hitting up potential
sponsors) in Melbourne. We rigged in beautiful weather and put the
boat in the water to head off to the start. Then once we’re all on
the boat and on our way - but not past the end of the wharf…
crack! There goes the rudder.

While it doesn’t suprise me so much considering the collision we
had with Herman during the Worlds, its a let-down all the same.
Sweeny had put the pin through the rudder and the top gudgeon, but
somehow had got the pin (which is enclosed in the rudder) into the
rudder without going through the bottom gudgeon. So of course at
the first miniscule piece of load the rudder peeled away sideways,
tearing around the enclosed pin and twisting the gudgeon into a
useless state.

Then we circle back, pull the boat out, pull it apart and put it
back on the trailor. Wasn’t that a great use of 5 hours!

Anyways…

In other news Tina finally got back onto the water after an absence
of… a long time… She dropped in at the sailing club down the
road, asked if anyone needed a crew, and got a ride on a Northie with a random 16 year old guy.
It’s funny how things play out… the guys all knew Northie guru
Kylie, whom Tina happened to teach how to sail way back at Urunga
some 12? years ago. It was also funny when 29ers came into the
conversation, and Tina mentioned her brother sailed them now and
then… I get to bask in the glowing ego boost of name
recognition… aint that nice.

Now that I think about it… it’s probably worth a blog post to
give a bit of an update on the Urunga group from all those years
ago… and where they happen to be now. Interesting I’m
sure…