The importance of being Alive

by John Curnow on 10 May 2016 Since buying the stunningly pretty Reichel-Pugh canting keel 66-footer, and re-naming her Alive, the team have lined up for a lot of things, won plenty and nabbed a record, as well.

She’s presently in a yard in the Philippines having a minor refit in readiness for the Australian season. It will commence with the upcoming Brisbane to Keppel and then head sharply into this year’s Hobart.

Her owner was kind enough to give us an insight into his passion and the time with the boat, so far. Phillip Turner said, “I love the challenge of both inshore and offshore racing. Part of the reason I chose Alive is that, within reason, she can bridge the gap between these two very different styles of sailing.”

“So far I have been very pleased with the boat, and we have big plans for the future. These past nine months in Asia have been a lot of fun. A big factor in my enjoyment is seeing the crew build, then come together, all focused on a single goal. Skilled people, working hard, loving the boat and our program.”

“Of course, winning a few races does not hurt either. Fingers crossed this year for another light Keppel, where we will have the advantage over Peter Harburg’s patently more powerful, modified V.O.70, Black Jack.”

So from on board, well presently the hotel room as it were, Kate Hine has taken time to detail for us what it has been like to, “Do the Asia series in a mini-maxi and come out smiling at the other end!”

“Honestly, I cannot say this enough. Thank you, Phil. This is a wonderful boat with a terrific sailing programme. The time here has been fantastic, amazing, beyond expectations, and just plain great fun. Sure there was hard work too, but that is part of the deal with boats and yachting. It does not get any better than this.”

Duncan and Kate Hine first put the concept of going up to Asia to Phil in 2014. History shows that there was not much arm-twisting needed at all, and after last year’s Brisbane to Keppel race there they were in Hong Kong with the boat on a container ship and a lot of unknowns.

“It was a case of the blind leading the blind, but thankfully a well known RQYS personality and experienced Asia campaigner in Asia was able help with some of those questions. This included putting us in touch with Neil Pryde’s ex-boat captain, Lyndon Robeso, who subsequently became Alive’s maintenance captain for the next eight months”, said Kate Hine.

She then added with great humour, “October saw us line up for the slightly scary 650Nm Hong Kong to Vietnam race in the reliably 25+knots NE trades. We did just five miles with a headsail up to get out of Hong Kong, and then 645Nm under spinnaker, all of which makes this race a true sleigh ride. The race is made even more exciting by the first world glitzy glamour of Hong Kong Harbour, contrasting markedly with the ‘ex-Soviet block beach destination cross post-apocalyptic theme park’ that is the Vietnamese beach city of, Nha Trang.”

“Then to top it all off, we were given red carpet treatment unlike anything I have seen for a sailing event. There were Vietnamese celebrities, catwalk models, fashion shows, a roof top party and five star service in a city where people are employed to cut the grass….., with scissors!!!”

A date with November’s truly brilliant Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta beckoned. Duncan and Lyndon had to take Alive on a 1500Nm delivery via Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, which is actually the truly, and completely, disgusting Port Klang and a decent hike from the city proper. The Raja Muda is a series of short day races up the Malaysian coast to Langkawi in the end, mixed with inshore windward/leewards.

It is a difficult one for the big boats because they tend to finish the day races before the sea breeze builds fully, giving smaller boats the advantage. Kate commented that for her, “It is one of the most memorable regattas because of the amazing culture and scenery at each of the stopping points, like tropical islands, Penang and at the World Heritage Area of Langkawi.”

“My favourite memory is the death defying dragon dance at the fully catered dinner in Penang, which was at a beautiful ancient Chinese temple. Little Max (our son) thought the dragon was great!”

December means it is time for Thailand’s King’s Cup Regatta in Phuket. “This is a beautiful part of Thailand, and the average Australian tourist clearly agrees. There is a good breeze for the regatta, which gets a good number of TP52’s and also a couple of other big boats. The racing is run off the white sandy beach and the boats anchor overnight. This meant Lyndon and the crew would spend each night on the boat on anchor watch.”

However, after racing the windward/leewards each day, the upside is that the crew could retire to their roof top marble lined pool an sip $5 cocktails or $1beers, looking into the azure blue sea and watching the sun set. “It is no exaggeration, honestly! Furthermore, each of the resorts in Phuket competes to put on the most outstanding party, and therefore each award ceremony, where we got a few first places I might add, was more amazing than the last!”

Turner was clearly also having a grand time, for they promptly booked in for January’s Royal Langkawi International Regatta. Originally, this one had been missed as Alive needs 14 souls on board to race and a continuous series of regattas can churn through sailor’s holidays, fun tickets and brownie points at home like it has been sprayed with napalm. Woosh!

Something like 70% of her crew are amateurs, so things like full-time jobs and family can get in the way. “One reason we choose amateur sailors to be part of the crew is their enthusiasm for the boat and the program. However, coming to Asia for 5-10 days every month is challenging for everyone, when you have regatta after regatta.”

“So for the past four of them we had been cycling through new faces at a pretty high rate. Nevertheless we scratched together a team of 12 with a few days to go and entered the race. This was lucky for us, because it proved to be another great regatta and we won it outright! It is difficult to do this at the best of times against the hot TP52s, and even more so when the racing is only windward/leewards”, said Hine.

February was delivery time once more. Duncan took Alive the long way back to Hong Kong, which is via the Philippines. The reason is to try and avoid the worst of those boisterous and never-ending Nor’east Trade Winds, which had made the Hong Kong to Vietnam Race so much fun not that long ago for them. The reason they were going back to Hong Kong is for the Rolex China Sea race, which is run once every two years, and is the Asian equivalent to the Sydney to Hobart.

“The race offers a mixture of conditions, from light upwind, to heavy downwind, and this year was no exception. Many of the smaller boats reported a solid 40 knots and gusts of up to 50 knots. We were lucky in that we were fast enough to stay on the leading edge of the worst weather. Our archrival for Line Honours was the patently faster 60ft racing catamaran, Mach 2. Mach 2 had a 40 Nm lead on ALIVE approaching the Philippine’s coast and only 70 Nm from the finish, but they decided to follow the breeze and go North of the rhumb line, close to the coast.”

“Luckily for us Lyndon, our Filipino maintenance manager, and veteran of 15 Rolex China Sea Races, had briefed Duncan and anyone else who would listen prior to the race to ‘stay South and a LONG way South at that’, for otherwise they would risk getting stuck in the dreaded ‘Luzon hole’. So stay South we did, even though the wind models said to go North, and we not only caught up the 40Nm, but subsequently finished 36Nm ahead. Alive not only took Line Honours, but also broke the 16-year race record and took out IRC 0 to boot.”

The very effervescent Hine finished by saying, “Here I am in a hotel in Philippines. Max is sleeping and I’m writing emails to everyone to let them know that we are really, really and truly, truly coming home!!! Duncan and I have loved our time in Asia with Alive and the great bunch of sailors who have made her fly. We hope that Phil gives us a chance to come here again. Right now, however, we want the comfort of sailing in ‘home waters’ and then there is that question of preparation for the daunting Sydney to Hobart.”

Alive, which represents both the Derwent Sailing Squadron and the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, plans to follow the 10th Anniversary of the Brisbane to Keppel with both Airlie Beach Race Week and then Audi Hamilton Island Race Week. All she needs to do now is get home to Brisbane without the slings or stevedore’s nicking her new Gucci paintjob!