Chicken Lips brings the country to Sail Port Stephens

by Lisa Ratcliff on 7 Apr 2017 Mark Hillis’s trailable Fareast 28 Chicken Lips hails from the NSW Riverina region where a lack of wide deep-water lakes means the crew has to travel from Wagga Wagga for their racing fix.

“If we tipped that boat over in Wagga’s Lake Albert the mast would go through someone’s front window,” Hillis grins. “The lake is so small and only two metres deep. Our nearest ‘lake’ is the Pacific Ocean so we travel to where the regattas are.

“So far we’ve done the Marlay Point race and the Festival of Sails at Geelong, and we wanted to come to Port Stephens, we love it here.

“Two more Fareasts will be joining us on Friday for the Performance Racing series so we’ll have others to really match up against,” he added at the conclusion of the first stage of the 10th anniversary Sail Port Stephens on Wednesday April 5.

“We don’t take any of this too seriously,” Hillis remarked on their combined points in the Commodore’s Cup, not helped by being over at the start in Wednesday’s final race and the five minute penalty they accepted over restarting against the fast-running tide.

The semi-retired caravan dealer is realistic that “based on our results, professional skippering isn’t really an option for me.”

Dealer Gerrit Veenemans has registered his Queensland Fareast 28 and Matthew Brown’s Sea Dragon, also from the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, will be on the Performance Racing division two start line for the next three days.

Chicken Lips is the nickname of Mark’s wife Christine, something “she’s not going to comment on” Hillis smiles. There are cartoon chicken graphics on the boat and the words ‘Go the Chook’ on the boat and crew shirts, and many of Mark’s comments are on-theme.

“Our pace upwind is about the same as everybody else but these boats are designed for windward return racing which I don’t really like. I love sightseeing. When the courses are designed around spinnaker runs feathers start to fly on the Chook.”

Hillis always wanted a new boat and when this Fareast 28 came on the market it was the right-priced opportunity he’d been waiting for. He bought it nine months ago, waited out the winter then started turning up at regattas to represent Wagga Wagga Sailing Club.

“It’s really good value for money, easily transportable and it looks good too!” the owner reckons.

Chicken Lips’ striking grey and orange colour scheme makes it easy to spot among a sea of white Commodore’s Cup yachts. So impressed with the colour scheme was the Fareast dealer, he went for the same look for his personal boat.

So far the highlight of Sail Port Stephens for Christine and Mark was seeing dolphins in Nelson Bay on Tuesday during the Commodore’s Cup passage race. “It was a real thrill for us country people to see three or four dolphins. Christine was so excited. I’ll bring some sheep up here for you guys next year.”
Sail Port Stephens is organised by Corlette Point Sailing Association and supported by Destination NSW, Port Stephens Council, Pantaenius Insurance, Garmin, Port Stephens Accommodation, Port Stephens Strata and more.

Commodores Cup 2017 - Results

Series Results [EHCDIV1] up to Race 3

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		8886	SEA HAWK	Pete & Drew Van Ryn	CSC	15.0	6.0	2.0	7.0
2		888	HUNTRESS	Philip Grove	RSYS	19.0	1.0	6.0	12.0
3	3.0S	MH46	KAYIMAI	Rob Aldis	MHYC	22.0	9.0	10.0	3.0
4		M62	AUSTRAL	Peter Mayo	RMYCT	22.0	14.0	4.0	4.0
5		33345	BLACK SHEEP	Derek Sheppard	CYCA	23.0	15.0	7.0	1.0
6		7272	PREDDYTOR	Peter Edwards	CSC	26.0	21.0	3.0	2.0
7	5.0S	67	COLORTILE	Warren/Kristy Buchan	CSC&RMYC	29.0	5.0	15.0	9.0
8		5708	KERINDA	Len Payne	RMYCT	29.0	13.0	8.0	8.0
9		M102	TOY STORY	Tom Woods	LMYC	30.0	4.0	20.0	6.0
10		5223	EXCAPADE	Noel Gough	RMYCT/LM	31.0	2.0	9.0	20.0
11		4100	THE BANSHEE	Rob & Corinne Franci	CSC	34.0	11.0	12.0	11.0
12		415	ARCH RIVAL	Steve Connors	DSC	35.0	25.0	5.0	5.0
13		6232	MORTGAGECHOICE RUMBA	R Carr/K Burke S Coo	MHYC	38.0	12.0	13.0	13.0
14	3.0S	6698	FIREFLY	Dean Gillies	RMYC	40.0	3.0	22.0	15.0
15		8009	OCC. COARSE LANG ONE	William Bailey	RPAYC	40.0	7.0	19.0	14.0
16		5822	QUEST 3	Brendon Gregg	RMYC	40.5	8.0	11.0	21.5
17		6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	CYCA	42.0	31.0F	1.0	10.0
18		500	ANTIPODES OF SYDNEY	Greg Newton	CYCA	47.0	10.0	21.0	16.0
19		MH11	UNA VITA	Ken Peachey	PSYC	51.0	16.0	18.0	17.0
20		MYC7	TENSIXTY	David Ashton	MYC	55.0	18.0	14.0	23.0
21		5713	SHES THE ONE	Michael Kirby	PSYC	58.0	23.0	16.0	19.0
22		N349	SCHOUTEN PASSAGE	Rob Howard	NCYC	58.5	20.0	17.0	21.5
23		7130	PASSION X	David Edmiston	GFS	59.0	17.0	24.0	18.0
24		7119	VERVE	John Groves	RPAYC	69.0	19.0	23.0	27.0
25		5367	JFORCE	Simon Lund	PMYC	72.0	22.0	25.0	25.0
26		AUS238	CHICKEN LIPS	Mark Hillis	WWSC	76.0	24.0I	26.0	26.0
27		PF57	FLASHDANCE II	Brian Evans	CSC	82.0	31.0Q	27.0	24.0
28		6813	VIRAGO II	Dave Rooke	RPAYC	93.0	31.0C	31.0C	31.0C
28		6563	L'ATTITUDE	R Hunt/J Short /M Ba	CYCA	93.0	31.0C	31.0C	31.0C
28		6481	TWOSHEA	Nick Jones	CYCA	93.0	31.0C	31.0C	31.0C

Series Results [EHCDIV2] up to Race 3

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1	4.0S	7009	ALFRESCO	Dave Griffin	RMYC	21.0	8.0	9.0	4.0
2		6584	KELSEA BLUE	Adrian Williams	RSYS/GSC	21.0	6.0	8.0	7.0
3		3425	GWHIZZ	Graeme Davey	GFS	25.0	4.0	13.0	8.0
4		6307	MACSCAP	Peter McClelland	MHYC	29.0	7.0	12.0	10.0
5		N1367	SUMMER SALT	Tim Gleeson	NCYC	32.0	19.0	4.0	9.0
6		MYC32	ESPRIT	Jan Bartel	MYC	33.0	31.0	1.0	1.0
7		7122	ROCKSALT	Anthony Bishop	RPAYC	34.0	29.0	3.0	2.0
8		7152	NEW BENETEAU 41.1	Micah Lane	CYCA	35.0	28.0	2.0	5.0
9		7439	UNRUFFLED	M.E.N. Syndicate	RPAYC	37.0	25.0	6.0	6.0
10	5.0S	6593	LU LU BELLE	Peter Lewis	MHYC	39.0	5.0	15.0	19.0
11		7034	AGROVATION	Michael Groves	GFS	39.0	21.0	7.0	11.0
12		7080	MINNOW	Les Pongrass	CYCA	40.0	27.0	10.0	3.0
13		621	DEVIL'S LAIR	John Sprague	GSC	42.5	22.0	5.0	15.5
14	1.0S	6740	EVEN FINER	Geoff Dilworth	GSC	47.0	1.0	28.0	18.0
15		37137	AEOLIAN	Bruce Thomas	GSC	47.0	9.0	25.0	13.0
16		8305	ELUSIVE SPIRIT	Robert Swan	GSC	48.0	11.0	23.0	14.0
17		7788	ALLSAIL DANCING STAR	R Waddy/ A Bower	RPAYC/RMYCBB	51.0	13.0	17.0	21.0
18		511	GRANNY JEN	David Rowe	GSC	53.0	14.0	22.0	17.0
19		6650	SAVARNA	David Sanders	RMYC	53.5	12.0	26.0	15.5
20	3.0S	B46	CHAMPAGNE ON ICE	Mark Wisby	PSYC	57.0	3.0	32.0	22.0
21		6887	NIGHTINGAIL	Ben Spannenberg	RMYC	57.0	10.0	16.0	31.0
22		5201	ALL OUR GIRLS	Mark Cole	HRYC/GSC/GFS	59.5	15.0	19.5	25.0
23	11.0S	AUS215	KNOT READY	Stephen Mackay	CPSA	61.0	30.0I	11.0	20.0
24		380	NEGOTIATOR	Wayne Taylor	WYC/CYCA	61.0	24.0	14.0	23.0
25		7113	TRIM	Chris Laughlan	RMYCT	63.0	2.0	31.0	30.0
26		7109	BELLS BREEZE	Julian Bell	PSYC	66.0	16.0	24.0	26.0
27		6817	SWEET CHARIOT	Alistair Rowe	RMYC-PH	67.0	20.0	18.0	29.0
28		336	VITTORIA	Alan Reece	RSYS/RPAYC	70.5	39.0F	19.5	12.0
29		6767	BIG BLUE	Stephen Phillips	WYC	72.0	17.0	27.0	28.0
30		1164	CIPRIANI	Jessica Campbell	CPSA	74.0	26.0	21.0	27.0
31	18.0S	6906	BANDALENI	Greg Kowalski	ASC	85.0	18.0	34.0	33.0
32		N29	SCOTS WHA HAE	Valda Johnston	NCYC	85.0	23.0	30.0	32.0
33		N2	SCUFFY	Richard Fleck	NCYC	92.0	35.0	33.0	24.0
34		MH180	CAVIAR	Max Theeboom	MHYC	96.0	32.0	29.0	35.0
35		1339	NYSSA	Mark Smith	NCYC	103.0	33.0I	36.0	34.0
36		TBA	IMAGINE	Tom Ayrton	MHYC	105.0	34.0	35.0	36.0
37		7094	EAU WELL	William Wade	CYCA	117.0	39.0C	39.0C	39.0C
37		N6	OIGLE	Paul O'Rourke	CPSA	117.0	39.0C	39.0C	39.0C