Written by Amanda Rogerson, Sailing Member

Seventeen started out on the race to Geelong with much trepidation… big winds for a little boat – but our sense of adventure won out! Grant Seamer, the Training Manager, and I, and two of RMYS’s training members – Sanne Rodenstein and Alan Connolly made up our crew.

With the wind at our back and some pretty cool surfing skills, we made good time across the bay – although at some point between then and a bit later – thanks to some gusty breezes – our beautiful red kite was trailing behind us in the water. A few more shifts of the wind provided some unexpected viewing windows in the #1 jib, which allowed us to look straight through and see the Code Zero pulling us sideways into the water! One reef in the main was unfortunately just not enough for the plucky little Elliot – so down it came and we sailed through to the finish line with just our jib.

Realising that day two was going to be even more challenging than day 1 – Rollercoaster and Take Five came to our rescue and we were able to crew for them for passage back to RMYS – much thanks to both!

Thanks to RGYC for letting us leave Seventeen in the pens for a bit longer – we will be picking her up and sailing her back during the week – and also retrieving our sense of adventure – which was left somewhere in the middle of the bay!

The upside – we now have an amazing crew who we know can handle anything under pressure – looking forward to our next race!

Photo by Beau Beza aboard Take Five on the return to St Kilda from Geelong

Written by Amanda Rogerson, Sailing Member