Nic

Over the Christmas and New Year period, Rob Douglass and I headed down to Victoria to contest our 17th Tasar Nationals (in a row)… Yes… that is a feat itself I know! It was a very tricky regatta, the practice race was blown out, we had light days, breeze on days, beanie days and sunburn days! We didn’t start off particularly well. After three general recalls and an eventual black…

On Boxing Day this year I was again a part of the Sailing Chix broadcast of the Sydney to Hobart. Thanks to Andrea Francolini for the most awesome picture of the start below… It is always fantastic to watch the big boats as they head out of the Harbour, but I really love the chance to be able to talk to so many of the sailors before they head south on one of the most epic adventures there is…

On Tuesday 10 December, I found myself on Steele Point, just in time for the start of the SOLAS Big Boat Challenge. Let’s just say… it was a pretty spectacular view… Black Jack was able to lead around Shark Island, before Oats XI took the lead, with Perpetual Loyal close behind. On the downwind leg, Loyal opted to keep their Code Zero cranked, and sailed underneath…

On Saturday 16 November, 2013, after nearly six years between sails on the boat, I joined the Zippier team for a sail. Zippier is a Thompson 8, true to it’s name, and if you love a bit of square top action, on this boat,you get not only the square top main, but a square top jib as well (as can be seen in the image above). We launched at RANSA (next door to the Cruising Yacht Club in…

9On the 8 November, 2013 at 7pm I headed out of the Harbour on the TP52 Frantic with a great team to take on the Cabbage Tree Island Race. On arrival to the boat, I somehow (read into this, they were waiting for me to arrive), ended up up the mast. Some great views that is for sure from the top of the 52. Heading out onto the Harbour, we were hit with a gradient northerly of about 20-28…

I have been lucky enough to have two fantastic rides on the VX One since I have been back in Australia. Below is the video from the 14 September, when we got stuck in an unexpected southerly with the mast head kite! Some awesome rides, and managed to beat a number of more handicap friendly sports boats on corrected time… and rightly so because we also won the race on scratch! They are just…

On returning back from the USA after a couple of hard months of dinghy sailing, I was definitely ready for a change. On Sunday 1 September, I headed up to Newcastle for two firsts, my first adventure on a TP 52, and my first time adventuring off Newcastle! It was a fantastic laid back day – a big thanks to the Frantic team for having me! You can see just how tough the day was for yourself in…

I know we are well past the AC, and there has so much written about it from so many sides. For me, it was another adventure, and an opportunity to experience another section of the sport of sailing that I love so much! I got to spend four nights in San Fran, as the Louis Vuitton was coming to a close, and the Youth Americas Cup was just about to kick into gear. I was like a school kid… the…

Wow, and what a Worlds it was! The above is my favourite shot of Dad and I from the regatta. A big thanks to Sean Trew who took some great shots on the last two days (most of the action pics in this post are from Sean). Sorry there are no pics from the last day of sailing as I promised, I took my camera out on the water and got some great shots – but it went missing on the last night of the…

Going into the second last day of the Tasar Worlds today! We had a great time on the paddle wheeler cruise on lay day eve on Wednesday night… And a great time at the Maryhill vineyard yesterday on lay day… Day three on Wednesday was a very tricky day, we went from the front to the back and vice versa at times! For more, check out Facebook or Twitter, or the results are available…