Saturday, 30 July 2022

This past Saturday’s pursuit race was won by Sunshine (skipper Jim Oosterweghal and crew Ailsa Pender, Ashley Shoup, Dylan Oosterweghal, Kim Barnard, and Tatum Mackey). We had the opportunity to interview Ailsa and Tatum to ask them about their experience aboard.

The crew worked well together. For their boat size, 5-6 crew members is ideal, reports Ailsa. Though they don’t always have dedicated rolls today they had a game plan. Ashley and Tatum were on Headsail, Kim on the foredeck, Jim on the helm and Alisa was on main trim. “It was challenging because of how windy it was but today was beautiful. It was kind of shifty the further up to Port Melbourne”, said Ailsa. “It was kind of like playingis the sails and zig-zagging up to the windward marks. Downwind was really good, it was very exciting trying not to round up to broach.

Ailsa and Tatum have been sailing with RMYS for a year and a half. Ailsa, originally from Scotland and Tatum originally from Canada. They praise Jim Ooosterweghal, their skipper for his ability to bring a great crew together under a common goal. “Jim is so supportive of everyone who comes on board,” said Ailsa. “He takes on anyone of any sailing ability [and] really tries to make everyone comfortable and know what they’re doing. I think today we all slotted really well and picked our lanes, especially on the boat” said Alisa. “Alisa worked so well with Jimmy, I think the whole crew were really lovely, it’s always good to have a mix of girls and guys”.

The team worked as shown in the results for Sunshine last week. An excellent team with a great skipper is a dream on the water. Congratulations!

Article by Lily Robbins

Interviews by Ann Rogers