Another Sydney Hobart trophy for Team Flying Fish

2 January 2012

Huge congratulations to Team Fish on Flying Fish Arctos who won third place honours in division in the  2011 Sydney Hobart campaign.

Blog from Mark Dando
Sydney Morning Herald

Dark and stormy: getting ready for yachting's 'Everest'
 
December 20, 2011 - 3:45PM
Sea urchins have been trying to sabotage our training.

It's the first day of intensive practice on board the yacht Arctos in preparation for the Boxing Day start of what is considered yachting's 'Everest' - the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht race.

I'm Mark Dando and have been racing from Middle Harbour Yacht Club for about four years. The crew are an interesting mix. There is Phil a strong-minded CEO in the manufacturing industry and Liz a young student nimble around the deck in her bare feet.

John Naylor is our Skipper.

A veteran of three Sydney to Hobart races he was part of the winning team last year by the performance handicap system (PHS). He informed us he almost missed this session after surgery to cut the spine of a sea urchin from his foot (impaled while surfing).

Understandably Steve Skinner our ship's doctor is busy reviewing the medical supplies. I am finding this most reassuring given my accident-prone nature. After checks we slip our lines to practice sail changes on the harbour.

Our lunch of sunshine has given way to a brooding thunderstorm. In the downpour I duck my head as lightning flashes just over our mast. It's a warning for how quickly conditions can change even on the harbour.

The Bass Strait has yet to reveal its temper.
For the race, John is dividing us into watches called Dark and Stormy. We will switch every four hours, day and night. I have been given the Stormy watch.

Today it certainly was.

The kite runners
December 21, 2011 - 10:50AM

Imagine being alone at the front of a yacht riding each wave that crashes over you as the bow lurches like a bucking bronco. This is the role of our bowmen Ed and Tim - the most exposed and precarious job in the crew.

Ed is good-natured wiry fellow from London and an experienced bowman. He has been teaching us the hand signals to communicate from his remote location as his words will be lost in the wind and the waves.

Tim Hillier while relatively new to this role is a marathon runner with the frame and fitness ideally suited to bow work. A fast learner, he's picking up the ropes very quickly from Ed.

Today we have the perfect wind for spinnaker training - one of the most complex and potentially troublesome operations on a yacht. As we slide away from our berth, we ready our two spinnakers for flying like kites. They will give us the massive power to accelerate our seventeen tonnes when running with the wind.

The symmetric spinnaker sail is 260 square meters – larger than many Sydney apartments - and held in place by five lines (ropes). The huge pole to prop out the windward corner is held in place by another three lines. To fly these kites requires the perfect choreography of all the crew with the pivotal dance performed by the bowmen.

Ed, beaded in sweat is smiling from a hatch telling us how warm it is below when packing the spinnaker. Like preparing a parachute in its bag this is a physically demanding operation requiring perfect preparation every time – even when you're wet and tired in the middle of the night.

Tomorrow we have an overnight passage offshore for safety training when we will practice 'man overboard' drill in the inky darkness.

I hope it's not me.

Developing our sea legs: overnight training for the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2011
December 22, 2011 - 10:52AM

All is not well.

It's midnight on a beautiful evening 10 nautical miles off the coast of Sydney and I'm just coming off a three-hour watch under the Milky Way. We've just perfected picking up the "man over board" after six practice drills. Thankfully, rather than throw a volunteer into the depths, we're using a buoy for this simulation (and we managed to recover it each time).

The team is also getting efficient at flying and dropping the spinnaker sail in the darkness - a little like trying to put up a tent wearing a blindfold.

The problem is that half the crew are suffering from sea sickness. Periodically, a sleepy crew member emerges from the sticky, fume-filled cabin to be hit by the rocking of Arctos in the fresh sea air.

Phil, Tim, Ed and I have all taken our turns retching over the side while a helpful crew member holds our harness to make sure we don't lean too far. Apparently we're developing our "sea legs".

Doctor Steve is kindly providing medication to relieve the nausea until they grow.

As the sun reddens the morning sky, the sickness abates. We warm our hands on mugs of hot tea and share around home-made 'rocky road' chocolate (supplied by a much appreciated loved one).
If only the food will be this good during the race next week.

Apparently we're having a full roast dinner on the boat following the race start on Boxing Day.

I hope it's not wasted.

Tactics, cuisine and hot bunking
December 23, 2011 - 2:30PM

Sydney Hobart 2011 - Flying Fish Arctos - Training Day 4
Good teamwork in the confined space on Arctos is critical. Our places in the three-hour watches have been adjusted and sleeping quarters (berths) allocated. Each time the shifts switch we literally hot-bunk into the warm spaces left by the relief shift.

Leading the stormy watch are Dane from Sydney and Gareth from the UK, young but seasoned professional sailors.

Today they are also preparing our meals for the race. I hesitate to call them rations at this stage as I think they have something slightly more gourmet planned. Each meal for 12 is cooked in advance, frozen into a large solid brick and stored in a large esky for defrosting when required on the ship's stove. This stove runs on meths - having the comforting advantage over gas that it won't explode (gas can build up in the bottom of the hull).

However it is about as fast as cooking by candle. The kettle can take 20 minutes to boil for tea so it just means we'll have to anticipate our hunger and thirst a little earlier.

Pascal from Switzerland has one previous Sydney to Hobart race up his sleeve. As a rail expert with the tough job of improving Sydney's train network, I can understand why he's taken to the water. They say a change is as good as a rest.

Tim Holloway, a friendly American family man has settled on the northern beaches with wife Kimmie. Their two girls are budding little sailors who are always there to meet Dad when we arrive back at the marina. Tim will be working the mast, co-ordinating with bowman Tim Hillier and Lizzie in the cockpit.The Dark watch is led by John the skipper with Phil the CEO as our navigator, Wiry Ed as our bowman, Doctor Steve on the mast and I'll be in the pit operating the lines and winches (while also writing this blog).

We are joined by Jerry the Geologist - a latecomer to the team from Perth who has just flown over for the race. As an experienced ocean yacht racer, he will be taking a fair bit of the helm on his first Sydney to Hobart.

Onshore, John has gathered us in a classroom to review our tactics for the race in light of the latest wind and ocean current forecasts. We are expertly coached via a video conference with our forecast guru, Penny Haire of Tidetech in Hobart.

It looks like we will get our preferred wind from the north-east for the start on Boxing Day which should see us accelerating past the competition once we leave Sydney Harbour heads. However Penny suggests that by the early hours of Tuesday morning a southerly change could come through. If it does it would be tough for our yacht Arctos (which doesn't point well into the wind) and rough for the crew. A southerly wind combined with the huge swells expected from a cyclone in the north would not be conducive to a settled stomach.

Needless to say - we're praying for North Easterlies.

Dogs dinner for Sydney to Hobart crew

December 26, 2011 - 9:44AM

While you are enjoying your Boxing Day lunch, spare a thought for the crew of Arctos. We'll be on the start line of the Rolex Sydney Hobart yacht race about to embark on a challenging four days at sea. If you've been following this blog you'll know that we are planning our own roast dinner on the boat soon after the start.


I feel now is the time to confess that we'll be eating this from a dog bowl. As one of the 'optimisations' made on our boat, these bowls have proven very stable on all surfaces and easy to grip when moving about a heeling boat. We do use cutlery, we're not on all fours, we are a little more civilised than that.

The start gun is due to fire at 1pm AEST. The harbour will be teeming with binocular-wielding spectators on the cliffs, from the decks of the Manly ferry and on board hundreds of smaller pleasure craft. I'm told that this generous farewell is the largest live audience (physically present) for any sporting event in the world.

As the race gets underway, Arctos will be one of 88 yachts tacking against the north-easterly wind to reach the marker just outside Sydney Heads. This is the point where spectators want to position well to watch (North Head is a prime vantage point).

As each boat rounds the marker and heads south towards Hobart spectators will see the boats launch their huge spinnaker sail accelerating them to a fast rate of knots (like hitting the gas pedal).

After training on the harbour last week I happen to know that this will be a treat. Several of the sponsored yachts have printed spectacular designs on their spinnakers. Jessica Watson's yacht Ella Bache has an enormous Lichtenstein style face painted on it.

This year's race is set to be a work of art.

In the thick of 'everyone's race'
December 30, 2011 - 10:12AM

The crew of Arctos are back from the edge of the earth and what an adventure.

During the last couple of days the winds have taken us so far offshore that we've only just re-established a connection to update this blog. We haven't sighted land in three days. Instead we've seen plenty of beautiful wild ocean along with the range of inhabitants.

Inquisitive sharks been nosing around, dolphins frequently playing in our bow wave and a solitary albatross has been fishing near us.

We're aware Sydney to Hobart line honours have been won by the well-deserved Investec Loyal (a boat twice our length) in less than half our expected time. Our crew however are even more interested in what we dub 'everyone's race' based on the performance handicap system (PHS). Our yacht, Arctos and skipper, John Naylor were a part of the combination that won the race overall by PHS last year.

Even if we don't match that result - we can't help thinking that the extra time at sea is something to be cherished and a story to be shared.

What a euphoric start to the race in Sydney Harbour on Monday as we run with the fleet under spinnaker down the New South Wales coast.

At sunset we are blanketed by the foreboding front of dark storm clouds from the South. As lighting flashes, Dane and Gareth leading the Stormy watch rush to reduce the amount of sail by dropping our spinnaker and reefing our main.

The wind quickly whips the sea into a confused state of large waves. As Arctos powers onwards she flys off the back of one wave and crashes (I don't use the word lightly) into the next. In our bunks we strap ourselves in tightly with seat belts and use ear plugs to calm the storm in our minds.

Inevitably half the crew are nauseous as these wind and sea conditions remain throughout Tuesday. By far the toughest part of the race, five of the 88 yachts that set out are retiring by late Tuesday afternoon.

We plough onwards in hardy Arctos trying to quell sea-sickness with medication from Doctor Steve. In the night Steve was thrown into the toilet wall so hard he thinks he may have chipped his elbow, although you wouldn't know it given his continued sterling work on deck.

By Wednesday we reach Eden, the point of no return. Our decision to press on towards Hobart involves crossing the notorious Bass Strait.

The weather forecast looks manageable although doesn't predict our favoured winds. We work hard to follow our strategy - chasing the best combination of available currents and winds. This takes us far offshore to the east making us one of the most isolated boats in the race. We're banking on a change to a south easterly wind later in the day to come out on top.

Phil and Pascal are diligent in completing the regular 'Scheds'. These are scheduled high frequency radio transmissions where each boat in turn shares their longitude and latitude. By plotting each boat on a map we can see how are performing against our competitors.

Throughout the night and all day Thursday we have a frustrating mix of strong wind (not quite in the ideal direction) interspersed with the dead air of the doldrums. Twice we manage to tear our largest head sail making our sense of isolation and self-sufficiency grow.

I spend several hours with Gerry the geologist hand sowing patches to mend the five-metre rip. With the job done we're still waiting for the wind.

All the crew sit on deck indulging in stories and jokes as we enjoy a dinner of chilli and rice. The 12 of us have developed a bond that only an adventure with highs and lows like the Sydney to Hobart could nurture.

At dawn on Friday morning we have a distant sight of land – the silhouette of Tasmania's Freycinet peeks. By evening we hope to be sailing up the Derwent river towards the finish line near Constitution Dock to celebrate with waiting friends and family.

The stories we 'every day' crew now have to share, will last a lifetime. Competing in one of Australia's most iconic sporting events has been a privilege and one that can be accessible to all.

Sydney Hobart 2012 anyone? >>