Price and McKnight guest speakers at Heaven Can Wait Charity Dinner

by Heaven Can Wait Media on 24 Sep 2012 Two of Australia’s sailing heroes, Olivia Price, the London 2012 Olympic Silver Medallist and Josh McKnight the 2012 Moth World Champion will be the guest speakers at the 2012 Heaven Can Wait Dinner this Friday night, September 28th at the Royal Motor Yacht Club Toronto.

Olivia Price, who only turned 20 during the Olympic regatta was the youngest of the Olympic Match Racing Womens skipper with team mates Nina Curtis 24 and Lucinda Whitty 22 won the Olympic silver medal behind the Spanish crew.

Olivia, who started on the Womens Match Racing circuit at age 16, was the top ranked bowman on the circuit in 2010. She took the 2010 Australian title, began skippering her own boat on the circuit in 2011, Fifth in Weymouth test event, eights at 2011 Worlds, and finished her HSC by distance education.

Olivia who is aiming to compete in her second Olympics in Brazil in 2014 will have plenty of observations on her whirl-wind ride so far and the future ahead.

She and her Heaven Can Wait co-speaker Josh McKnight both came out of the Flying Elevens

McKnight who won the the 2012 Zhik Nautica Moth Worlds in Lake Garda, Italy in August. McKnight was 12th place at the 2011 Moth Worlds in Belmont, New South Wales, Australia.

He said today ‘The speed of the whole Moth fleet has lifted significantly in the past two years. When Nathan Outteridge set the One Lap Dash Race Record in 2010, techniques were still evolving. Nath capsized eleven times in setting that record. You won’t see that kind of crash and burn in 2012 and if conditions are right, we expect to see a bunch of sailors ahead of the record.

Once again the Heaven Can Wait Dinner is not to be missed there will only be 120 seats available so immediate booking is essential.

Tickets $35 per head, table service. Drinks will be extra. Please do NOT try to call the RMYCT restaurant to make your booking -- instead call the club. The phone number for bookings ((02) 4959 2051) gives you the option of pressing '1' for the restaurant. Please DO NOT select this option, instead wait until your call goes through to someone at the club, who will then take your booking.

You will need your credit card details to make your booking. If you wish to share a table with other boats/crews, please give your boat name, and the boat(s) you wish to share with.

The 2012 Heaven Can Wait Charity Yacht Regatta will run on Lake Macquarie, on September 29-30, 2012 -- the New South Wales Labour Day Long Weekend.

With five days to go, entries are now at over 40 boats, with organisers confident of getting to well over 50 - while on the fundraising side, over $13,500 has so far been raised for the Cancer Council of NSW.

Still to come is the pre-race dinner this Friday (the night before the race), which provides a number of additional fundraising opportunities as the event races towards its target of $30,000

As well as the iconic 24 hour race and the very popular One Lay Dash This year's Regatta includes a new event, the 12 Hour Challenge. It will have the same course and start time (1100 hours) as the 24 Hour race, but will finish at 2300 hours on Saturday September 29.

The organising authority of the fifth Heaven Can Wait event is the Heaven Can Wait Yacht Club. The Venue is the Toronto Royal Motor Yacht Club Toronto.

The Heaven Can Wait 24 hour race was conceived and promoted by Lake Macquarie resident, keen sailor and cancer survivor Shaun Lewicki as a major annual sailing event on the lake, to promote sailing, the Lake Macquarie/Newcastle/Hunter region – and to raise funds for cancer research.

Entries for the 2012 Heaven Can Wait Charity Yacht Regatta are now OPEN. Simply click on the ENTER HERE button to enter your boat; remember too that crew, family, friends and colleagues can support any boat competing in the 2012 Heaven Can Wait charity yacht race, raising funds for men's cancer research and support. All funds raised are donated to the Cancer Council NSW, along with up to $5000 going to Marine Rescue NSW.

Don't forget, as well as the on-water race, there's a virtual fundraising race as well -- please help your chosen boat and crew get to the front of the fleet! In 2011, we raised over $35,000 for men's cancer research and support programs.
www.heavencanwait.com.au