Launceston to Hobart: Sandy McManus and the Twitch syndicate - Just keep sailing

Twitch on the River Derwent sailing in the BYC Crown Series Regatta © Jane Austin

Sandy McManus © Photo supplied

Sandy McManus started sailing an NS14 with a neighbour as a 12-year-old from the Lauderdale Yacht Club. Wind the clock forward to 2020 and McManus is lining up for her fourth Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race on Twitch. So, what drives this calm and quiet achiever and how does she rate her team's chances in the upcoming Launceston to Hobart Race?

McManus moved from the NS14 into a 13-foot Hawke catamaran in her youth, but it was some years later before she set foot on a bigger keelboat, crewing for Ian Johnston on his Doven 30, and she has never looked back. The modest, Hobart-based sailor considers herself a relatively inexperienced offshore competitor compared to her crew mates on Twitch, and while she may not have a lot of offshore races under her belt, she is certainly building her blue water miles.

"My first Bass Strait crossing was a delivery on a TP52 from Hobart to Sydney and I've done several other deliveries up and down the east coast. I did the delivery from Townsville to Darwin, competed in the Spice Islands Darwin to Ambon Race, then delivered the same boat from Ambon to Bali, from Port Dickson to Port Klang in Malaysia, then from Langkawi Malaysia to Phuket, in Thailand. We competed in the nine-day Raja Muda Selangor Regatta in Malaysia followed by the Phuket Kings Cup in Thailand," said McManus.

"If you had asked me ten years ago if I thought I would sail a 37-foot yacht from Townsville to Thailand and compete in three Indonesian regattas, I'd have said you were crazy," said McManus.

McManus has been honing her sailing skills through the Australian Women's Keelboat Regatta (AWKR) in Victoria and regards that event as one of the most influential in her sailing development.

"In my first Women's Keelboat Regatta in 2017 I trimmed the mainsail for the first time on a keelboat. I only got through the weekend because of the training that I had received from the Twitch crew. I love the fact that there are so many women on the water in one place in the regatta - hearing some of the sailing stories has really inspired me to get out of my comfort zone and say yes to more sailing opportunities. In 2019, we took a Bellerive Yacht Club team across and borrowed an S80 to compete in Division Two of the Regatta. I'm hoping to get the team back to Victoria to race in the 30th anniversary of the regatta in 2021," said McManus.

On the 27th of December, McManus will line up for the start of the TasPorts Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race on Twitch, a Eureka 31, owned by the Hobart-based syndicate of Ritchie Upton, David Rust and Jim Bedford, and sailed by a team of experienced offshore sailors.

"I've been sailing with Twitch for three years and this is her sixth Launceston race. I was crewing on Southern Swordfish in 2016 with the late Doug Barry, when David and Ritchie joined us while Twitch was in for repairs after breaking her mast. I guess you could say that Twitch inherited me after Doug's passing," said McManus.

According to Will Keyes, skipper for the 2020 race, McManus is a very good sailor who trims well, builds morale, and keeps the crew calm when things get a bit hectic. "Sandy is super organised onboard, labelling everything to make life easier," said Keyes.

The Twitch team is based on skill, experience, fun and a healthy dose of camaraderie. "There is so much knowledge on the boat. No one big notes themselves on board; we all work together to try to make the boat as fast as we can and I try to learn something new every time we sail. And for me, well my goal in life is just to keep sailing," said McManus.

Co-owner Rust is looking forward to this year's race and to celebrating Upton's tenth L2H race. "We love getting offshore with like-minded mates for two days and enjoying the spectacular east coast and Tasman Peninsula," said Rust.

Other crew members include Aaron McKibben, Grant Skingle and Jane McDougall.

Rust and McManus agree that their stiffest competition will come from The Dog House (Ambrose Coad), Talofa (Rob Cawthorn) and Wings Three (Peter Haros).

The race gets under way on Sunday 27th of December from the Tamar Yacht Club on the Tamar River at Beauty Point and is expected to finish in Hobart on the 29th of December.