January 2024 Hobart to Sydney...

Well, 6 years after our first delivery, Bruce decided to enter the two handed division of the Sydney to Hobart.  I noticed the entry and contacted Bruce to wish him well. His reply was "Last time for me - age has caught up with common sense!" a quote which I have repeated to many since and all have been both amused and in agreement that the Hobart has that effect to lure you in sometimes against better judgment.

This time  they made it despite really difficult conditions with either no wind or way too much as well as adverse current and mostly 'on the nose' Bruce had best intentions of doing the return delivery but decided it was all a bit much and contacted me with the request. So Murray and I headed down and sailed her back to the Squadron. We had similar conditions to Bruce.... on the nose, adverse current and a mix of wind speeds from 0-45kts. Regardless we kind of got used to being on board this stripped out water ballasted racer and arrived in Sydney after about 7 days which included two brief overnight stops to let some weather blow through.

Murray was great and I managed to talk him out of setting the spinnaker despite his desire to match Bruce's pb of 28kts!

Flinders Island to Sydney January 2018...

Owner Bruce phoned me to ask if I would do a recovery mission which included setting up the jury rig with storm sails. At first a little reluctant, but realising that it needed to get back to a larger port for re-rigging, I agreed to take on the adventure being very careful with the weather. As it turned out, apart from adverse current the whole way, the sea and winds were favourable. With two new crew members, Ray and Bernie, it ended up being a most enjoyable time and I thank them both very much for the great job they did and look forward to being able to offer them the next trip on a yacht which doesn't have "mast envy"

Thank you also to Bruce for the brilliant support both on Flinders and along the way.