It's all about the girls
by John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World AUS 18 Mar 2018 14:00 PDT
Charlotte Kaufman on board with their youngest child © Charlotte Kaufman
Pantaenius Sail and Motor Yacht Insurance are bringing the wonderful, and very communicative visionary Charlotte Kaufman to Australia. Charlotte is to be the keynote speaker at the third Women Who Sail Australia group's, Gathering by the Bay, at Port Stephens from 6 to 8 April, 2018. You can read all about that, here.
Looking back to the early 90s, when there was literally the classic handful of women in ocean racing at the time, I recall how lucky I was to know them all. Now the most amazing thing is how those pioneers were the thin edge of the wedge. Today, both racing and cruising are far better off for the plethora of women who have taken up the sport.
The moment of reflection was afforded me after I got to speak with a certain, Rosie Colahan. She had read last week's Editorial, Cunning Plan, and then re-posted it too. The primary subject matter of that is one that is very special to her, and that is the Melbourne Osaka two-handed race.
As a former participant, Rosie knows plenty about that race and many others she completed two-handed, and as a GP, she is now the Medical Officer for the race, as well. Yet as much as all of that enthuses her to do more, her main passion would be getting more women and girls into sailing, and Rosie was instrumental in the formation of, and continues to work vigorously for, the aptly named Women and Girls in Sailing Committee.
During the week, on March 15 to be precise, the little S&S 34, Morning Star, was the first vessel to get away (albeit a weather delayed few hours after schedule) in the 5500nm odyssey. Rosie wrote a great piece about Joanna Breen's boat and assault on the race with her friend, Peter Brooks, and you can read that, here.
The second start, consisting of two craft (one of which had industry figurehead Paul Schulz on board on one of the four Jeanneau Sunfasts partaking in the race), was meant to get away yesterday, but was delayed due to weather until 1100hrs today (and we await confirmation that this did indeed occur for it is still blowing dogs off chains down there). Alas, this time it was because of too much wind, not zero as it was with Morning Star. Alas, this is one of the issues with multiple starts, and the other is boats racing in different weather, but then size differentials mean this happens anyway.
In speaking with Rosie, I got to learn that there are two other women in the main fleet, which gets the grand send off, Roulettes and all, when the main fleet departs on this Sunday, March 25 @1355hrs. The first is no stranger to water, having grown up from a child as part of a boating family. She is Annette Hesselmans, and her co-Skipper is her husband, Gerard Snijders. They are on board the Radford 12.2m, Red Jacket.
The other is Sue Bumstead, who is sailing the Moody 54, Blue Water Tracks, with her friend and the craft's owner Grant Dunoon. Now ordinarily you would think that a Moody would be the last word in luxury at sea, but that particular honour goes to the Warwick 67, Allegro. She can also claim longest and heaviest boat in the fleet.
Just quickly, other interesting facts from inside the fleet are that there are two Class 40s, and also two from the pen of the late Joe Adams, who by that time had Graham Radford as his business partner. There are also two Father and Son crews, and that fits inside apiece all about the girls, because they all had Mothers. The first is Rod and son Tyson Smallman on one of the three Jeanneau Sunfast 3600s. The other is the distinctive Spirit of Downunder carrying Laurie Ford off on his third Osaka with his son, Tim, who is undertaking his second. Simply put, "On ya Lozza!"
So if there was just one vessel to commence the multiple starts to the event, then it seems apt that the other bookend should also be a solo affair, and on April 1 @1355hrs AEDT, Chinese Whisper will set about hauling in the fleet, and then cracking under 30 days to set a new record. Just note that daylight savings ends that morning, so the actual start time could well be 1455hrs AEST.
As we get ready to wind up, another woman of note is all Deb Dalziel and her site, My Sail Team, are doing to get people out for a yacht more often, all around the country. She is delivering a weekly sample of boats looking for crew, and the latest can be found here.
The Volvo Ocean Race has gotten underway on their longest leg of the journey around the globe. The most notable thing is that instead of an all-girl crew, now every crew has girls on board. The Olympic quadrennial is in full flight and the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Iberostar marks the start of another season. The link? Our Silver Medallist from London, Olivia Price, will skipper her Kleenmaid crew and vessel in the SuperFoiler Grand Prix this week. What a season they have had, and the final looks to be quite epic...
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