Matt Wearn and Wendy Tuck, 2018 Sailors of the Year. - photo © Gregg Porteous
Dear Recipient Name
A big week, last week, and loads of good news, too. At the Australian Sailing Awards on Friday night, Wendy Tuck received the female Sailor of the Year, and many wondered if this might indeed be a harbinger for the Rolex World Sailor of the Year? Could be, which would be better than good, and thoroughly deserved. Time will tell, so vote now please.
The very amiable Matt Wearn has been carving it up in the Laser, so it was terrific to have his efforts acknowledged as male Sailor of the Year. He was thought to end up being to big for the class, and so would be transferred over to the Finn. With all that the Laser group of the AST has done for years, lately under Michael Blackburn who was also anointed on the evening, you get the impression that the five or so top sailors in Lasers are certainly going to be pushing each other on in the lead up to Tokyo.
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The great Jon Sanders was one of the inductees into the hall of fame, and so he should be. The list of achievements is almost as long as one of his ten laps of the planet he has completed on his own, including a double and a triple non-stop, no less. He is a significant part of the massive national treasure we are now well and truly beginning to properly recognise and display with the awards and the role of National Maritime Museum as well. The new Barrenjoey Pin is also a tremendous initiative to give depth and presence to this great sport for life, and just how important our island nation has been on the global stage for so, so long now.
Matt Allen gave his President's Awards to Ross and Kevin Wilson, as well as Denis Thompson, in recognition for all the regattas they oversee as the premier PROs in the land (and O/S for that matter). These were welcomed with great applause, as no doubt many of the room acknowledged all the efforts that this group had done to make their own racing possible.
Moving on to Saturday, and up at the Etchells World Championships I was talking with Wade Morgan and Gordon Maguire about the event, and how wonderful it was to see so many people get recognition for the things they do inside sailing, yet don't necessarily involve bling around their neck.
We all felt that is was utterly marvellous to see the Wilsons and Denis be anointed in such a way. Then Wade came up with a very good point, and that is that industry heads should also be considered. A lot of names were considered as to who should be first, but in the end the consensus was that it should be John McConaghy. Anyway Matt, no pressure, just food for thought. That's all.
And so Lisa Blair got away on her attempt at collecting the record for fastest time around Australia sol and unassisted. She's on the Mid-North Coast of NSW at the time of writing. What a journey, with bricks everywhere, no real sleep per se, Yankee Foxtrots everywhere, especially on the East Coast, and like a month and half of it, at least. She's good for it, however, and we wish her well. Super well, actually...
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Also could not help thinking of the impending ocean races when I saw Comanche in the pen at Sydney City Marine. Later I would be talking with Brenton Fischer, who is taking the TP52 Ragamuffin South again this Xmas, and I noted how Comanche was not canted in the pen, unlike her much skinnier compatriots, when they too are spending time at the facility. Apparently she does not move anywhere near as much as them, so there is no issue with rig clash and the Anzac Bridge above. Driving over said bridge later, and there is a good 25 feet on display, so there must be a fair bit of the old form stability below...
Got to take the new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 490 for a burn on a super-blustery day on Pittwater, with bullets absolutely everywhere. In fact, it was so much so, that I actually kind of felt like I was in a firefight.... Anyway, what a boat! It is a true rocketship, and I am a bit puzzled as to why this one is still for sale. It is soon to be on its way to Melbourne, so maybe someone on Port Phillip will see what she can do and how she will dispose of miles and chop with great aplomb. If you are interested, this resin-infused, foam core delight handles well and is full of great ideas, like those walk around decks. All of which seemed like a great segue into the fact that there are new Jeanneau Sunfasts on the way. These have been a bit of darling of the short-handed scene, and have the results to warrant it!
Right oh - here today there are some gems for you to review. We have information about the F18s in Florida, the Etchells in Brisbane, Extreme Sailing Series, Golden Globe Race, Middle Sea Race from Malta, the mighty Ultime tris, intel from North Sails, inshore racing at Hobart, Farr 40s, Hong Kong to Hainan, 29ers, Hansas in Japan, SailGP, gear from Musto, IMOCAs, radios from B&G, vale Ian Kiernan, Bavaria swings back into full production, Festival of Sails, the Stars, Youth Olympic Games, and certainly there is much, much more.
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John Curnow
Editor, Sail-World AUS
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