Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series – L and V

by John Curnow on 24 May 2015 Apart from defining a certain set of wind conditions, light and variable, these two letters also form part of one of the world’s most used words. Yes, everyone was feeling the love today as 23 keelboats and eight off the beach craft took part in the Brighton Lady Skipper’s Series (BLiSS), the last race of which forms the final round of the Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series (PPWCS).

Now at this time of year, Port Phillip usually has two speeds on offer - full speed and stop. So it may have ended up a lot like the latter, especially in the middle of the race, but this would not dampen the demeanour of the participants. There was real joy to be had and the happy times on the water well and truly spilled over to the luncheon and presentations.

Race Officer for the day was Paul Pascoe. Originally, there was a passage race on offer, but the astute sailor would note that long legs and soft to dying breezes would not augur well for completing an event. Pascoe commented, “One of the things we did this morning was to amend the Sailing Instructions to allow for us to run Windward/Leeward racing, which had the major benefit of offering multiple opportunities for a shortened course to be run. There was a nice, little six knot breeze to get them away on a course axis of 010° and out over a range of just past 1nm, which we did after a very short spell under the Answering Pennant, at 1113hrs.”

“The best start was done by the smallest craft out there, Aquarius, whereas the largest boat out there, Trybooking.com, was just about last over the line. Right on the gun, Aquarius crossed, perhaps just half a metre behind the line and roughly half way through the pin end mark, so all was fine and legal. They all made it to the weather mark, even if the fleet had started to separate out a lot, as the leaders hoisted ‘chutes and made for the Committee Boat and the leeward mark once more.”

“Those leaders were then heading back to the windward mark, which had been moved even further left to 350° by that stage, when it really became a shy spinnaker reach and for some thereafter a more open run. Note that some of the backmarkers were still trying to reach the old leeward gate and were beating in towards it as the breeze clocked even further to WSW. This kind of matched to forecast, so anyone who had availed themselves of that information would have really done well”, said Pascoe.

Shanna Hetrick was skippering Aquarius, the boat that won this last season’s Club Marine Blue Series. She freely confesses that fleet starts are not her thing. Not to worry, for fellow regular crew, Christine Alexander, took the tiller of the Holland 25 and absolutely creamed the start from down at the pin end. Later Alexander swapped back with Hetrick and the crew set about their work. Lloyd Hetrick is the usual helmer and today Aquarius also had Liz Mitchell on board who normally sails out of Cowes, over on Westernport. It all goes to show just how far the love can spread at one of these events.

Just after racing, Royal Brighton Yacht Club’s (RBYC) General Manager, Eric Wegman said, 'We are delighted to have held the last round of this season's PPWCS as part of our Brighton Lady Skipper's Series. It is great to hand over the club for the day to our many terrific female members, and they are honouring it all by increased participation as the years go by. Thankfully, Hughie was kind enough to us and we had a lovely race, followed by the gala lunch. Royal Brighton looks forward to welcoming everyone once more this Friday (May 29), when we'll host the PPWCS presentation night. That too is bound to be well attended and great fun.'

The most curious case of the day goes to Audacious, which was skippered by BLiSS chairperson, Tracey Baldwin. They collected both ratings wins (IRC and AMS [Australian Measurement System]) along with Line Honours, and were second in the Performance Handicap System (PHS), which is the pre-eminent classification for these events, yet this last item did not perturb Tracey. Rather, she seemed a bit delighted by it all. Baldwin explained, “Actually we are thrilled to let someone else have top honours, for we have had our hands on it ever since this series was created. To have someone else take it out is totally awesome.”

“It was a little bit tricky today out there, but we got around without incident. Being in front does have that added pleasure of not colliding with other boats. Another is seeing all the kites coming at you when you have already turned the corner and are going back. Fantastically the breeze did fill in from the back of the fleet first and that brought most home faster than would have otherwise occurred.”

“I never realised organising something like this was such a hard job until I took it on. Previously I was the Secretary and just thought that the top job would be only a small step. That is not the case. At any rate, thank you to everyone for coming along to our event. They have all been just terrific. Here at RBYC we are all about training and mentoring and then getting into some racing, so events like this are just perfect for that and building participation. Confidence follows and then others will want to step up and have a go at skippering.”

“A big thank you goes to all of the owners for letting these crews take their boats, the regular crew who have come along to support us and also RBYC for running such a great regatta with the help of those terrific volunteers. Naturally we could not do it without sponsors like, Middy’s Electrical, Promenade Jewellers and others, such as Mandy Jackson (Nutrimetics), Yachtmaster Sailing School”, said Baldwin.

Now trainspotters will remember that Ellipse won (Line Honours) in the first round and has now won (PHS) for this last round. Talking about the ‘bookends’ as it were, skipper Gretchen Mohan said, “Thank you. We are a little bit chuffed today. There has been a lot of practice involved and the good teamwork is paying off. Many thanks to David Sudano, who is only really known as ‘Sudsy’ around yachting, for mentoring us all with everything and also really working us hard in the light airs, with sail trim, wind observations and all the little one-percenters. We just love the boat and the owners, Jack Setton and Al Kaminski, for giving her to us. It really is a privilege and an honour.”

“This is the first time that we have done the whole PPWCS, so to have some success is truly delightful, we are smiling and it is not the wine talking… This is a great series that is good fun to compete in, so many thanks to all of the people who made the racing possible. It is marvellous to be able to get all these women out the water. Now all we have to do on Ellipse is find some nice trophies to put in between the bookends!” Ellipse also claimed second in both IRC and AMS on the day, with Salamander III taking third in IRC and Le Cascadeur grabbing third in AMS.

Jayhawk collected third in PHS today. The J35 was skippered by Anne-Florence Plante, although this is not her regular boat, which makes third a very cool achievement, indeed. “I got started in keelboats when I was 15, back in Brittany. Today we were one minute late to the start, which is not ideal in light breezes. We had an issue with the countdown on board, but being up at the boat end meant there was less congestion to deal with than those who were down at the pin end experienced. At the finish, Dry White went above us and stole our wind, which we think cost us about five places.”

“Otherwise, the race was really interesting, for it was jib down, spinnaker up, spinnaker down, jib up all day. We saw the wind well today and the tactics on board matched that, which provided for this good result. This is the first time I have skippered, usually I trim, so it is especially pleasing for me to get Jayhawk on the podium”, Plante concluded with.

The very-accomplished and multi-thousand-nautical-miled, Rosie Colahan, is not only the chair of the Women and Girls in Sailing Committee, she was the driver of just previously mentioned, Dry White. It seems struggling to make the finish line was behind the decision to go above Jayhawk.

“Overall, we have had 48 vessels come and be a part of the various rounds of the PPWCS at one stage or another. That is really terrific. What is probably most pleasing is the number of new boats to the event and new names as skipper! Even in the three years that the PPWCS has been running, we have seen it transition from some very well known women who had been sailing for ages to many, younger women taking up the charge. It can only be good for the sport overall.”

“In terms of the Kingston Trophies PPWCS Perpetual Team Trophy, it looks like it is a three-way tussle between Royal Melbourne, Hobsons Bay and RYCV. Training programmes really help and Hobsons Bay lead the charge in that way, for they even have a dedicated S80 that has been made available for women to train on and gain experience for events like ours. Well done to them.”

“Having similar, one design fleets will certainly increase all the skills of the women and this is something we should aspire towards achieving. There is an invigorating and energetic spirit floating around, and you see this with boats and crews coming from different clubs to take part. Often, you have boats out there where the crew all come from different clubs and so the camaraderie and networking that takes place is something to behold. Seeing the enjoyment that follows has built strong relationships and they all feel confident about walking into other clubs, because they are likely to know someone”, Colahan said.

In conclusion, many thanks to Yachting Victoria (YV) for providing today’s media launch. YV is the event organiser, and they would also like to thank the proud sponsors of the PPWCS; Club Marine, Kingston Trophies, AUS Sailmakers and Custom Yacht Covers. Of course, Club Marine is Australia's largest provider of recreational boat insurance.

The treasure trove of prizes and awards will be distributed next Friday, May 29, at RBYC. That is of course when the new Kingston Trophies PPWCS Perpetual Team Trophy will be awarded. Up until now the calculations for it have been challenging at best, so keeping it a secret until Friday is likely to have strong martial overtones. Ian Mann of Kingston Trophies donated the perpetual Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series Trophy in 2013 for the inaugural event and is the person behind the new Teams Trophy as well. Sam and Liz Haines of AUS Sailmakers provide an Encouragement Award for each race. Finally, Sue Bumstead from Custom Yacht Covers provides the Encouragement Award prizes based on the whole PPCWS. Ultimately, this all means some boats and skippers will do well with the loot.

Well done to all the sailors, volunteers and sponsors for making this third season of the PPWCS so successful. Details and full information about the entire PPWCS can be found at http://www.womenandgirlsinsailing.com.au and whilst you’re at it, go and like https://www.facebook.com/WomenandGirlsinsailing.