BRISBANE BLOG: Breakers, Bus drivers, Bears (not) and Boxes

Looking at the entry list, one can see that instead of the veteran sailor being the exception, for this event the oldies are almost in the majority! One may then be excused for thinking that not just a few of the entrants will be consulting the NoR with something of a tinge of wistful recollection of Championships past, when the running of the event was not so heavily compressed. There was a time when heading off to a exotic location meant that one could say “been there, done that and have the tee shirt to prove it” and actually KNOW where they have been….. rather than just another event at another club. Of course, for the quasi rock gods at the front of the fleet, time is everything, so it should not come as a surprise that these are the people who want to get there, thrash about the course as many times as can be crammed into as short a period of time as possible, then head off back to whatever they do. We must of course sympathise with the busy working family man, for whom sneaking away to do an event is just another pressure point in an already congested diary. But, with so many older sailors competing, is there not a danger that the trend towards ever shorter and more intense events will end up having a negative – rather than positive impact on numbers. I have recently been doing some work with Luca Devoti, the Olympic Finn builder (and silver medallist) who is now promoting the D-One single hander. Luca believes firmly that things have gone too far, so as well as developing his new boat, he is also looking to put something of the fun element back into events. I am not saying that the Contenders should follow his lead but……

This issue leaps right into focus when you find that there had been a plan proposed for the upcoming Championships to ‘turn the clock’ back a bit and make the event something that the oldies might recognise. A week long event, one race per day, with a lay day half way through. There was even a plan for the lay day, that would see the fleet heading away from the confines of the club to sample the delights on Stradebroke Island. ‘Straddie’ as the paradise isle is known locally, also happens to be the lair of Contender legend Jan Mulder, so local knowledge would have been on hand to allow us to maximise the day. It would be easy to question the use of the word ‘legend’ but along with some of the other very long serving Contender sailors, Jan is just that. He started his Contendering at the first Brisbane Worlds in 1974, was part of the drive to build incredibly stiff and light boats from balsa and is still sailing one of his own built boats hard today. Jan and wife Dee (Deidrie) may have retired to their home at Point Lookout on the island, but Jan will be back and competing hard come the first week of January.

So, for all of you who will be unable now to make the trip up to Straddie, worry not as I’ve been and tried the journey, below are some of the salient points! From the RQ compound, getting to the station is easy and a ticket to Cleveland, the ‘end of the line’ not expensive. Cleveland is charming and for those with the 2012 Worlds at St. Petes already in the diary, the town has a distinct whiff of Florida about it.

From the Railway station it is but a short bus ride to the Ferry Terminal, but here care is needed as at least one bus driver had clearly done his training in the Parisian taxi driver school of charm.

The correct bus, once located, took no more than 3 minutes and was free, after a 25 minute blast on a high speed Catamaran across the bay I was on Stradebroke Island – really as far east as you can get and still have Australian soil underfoot. Then there is the Pacific, next stop is (unless you hit Hawaii) is South America. The island has much to offer, real wildlife ( like that seen in the zoo but ‘au naturel’) and incredible surf…..so even though you’re not sailing on the day you could be finding out how to really catch those waves on the downhill stretches.

Beautiful beaches are commonplace on the island, which is helped by their being in both N-S and E-W orientation. So, whatever the wind, you can try your hand at surfing. Rumour has it that even Ms Andrew (nee Potter) learnt to ‘hang ten’ here.

A rare sight, even for the locals. A female Roo with baby Joey hidden in pouch.

A randy Koala looking for a bit of what might take his fancy and that does not mean gum shoots either!

No wonder Koalas are rare! The bestial grunting that passes for a Koala version of “come up and see my gum tree” was enough to put any self respecting female off.

The island had so many charms, fresh, clear water springs and a lake full of brown water (hence Brown Lake). In the UK this would mean brackish water, but here the colouration came from the forest of tea-trees that ringed the lake. The result was the most incredible soft water; a swim in the lake cleared up and cuts or grazes and left your hair wonderfully soft. A day trip would not be really long enough to sample all the delights of such a magical location, but as a lay day break in the competition, would have made trip to Australia a little more special for many of the visitors.

Meanwhile, back at the Yacht Club, the pace is on the up as the containers start arriving today!

First Container arrives, this one is from Perth. We just had time to sort this before heading into the Brisbane Quarantine Zone to sort out the Italian shipment – this will be delivered tomorrow.

Matt, Trevor and myself ‘liberating’ a pair of Italian Contenders from the Quarantine zone! These two boats are now safely back at the RQ, where it is hoped they will be joined today by their container, and (fingers crossed) the German Container.

The other news is that more sailors are arriving, with the latest to hit the RQ sight Mike Denham from Scotland. More will follow!

Pick up the Twitter feed from ….

http://twitter.com/2010contenders

David Henshall
Bearfacemedia/ Brisbane

BRISBANE BLOG: A day in paradise, plus the Revenge of the Killer Magpies.

Like so much of the Australian wildlife, the sailors out here have evolved slightly differently to the rest of us. We all have a mental picture of the cheery, beery, happy and relaxed local, but now there is a further sub-species: This is the super helpful, considerate, thoughtful, will really ‘do anything to make things work’ sailor that is making life down here so attractive. One such individual has to be Greg Barrington, one of the Western Australia team, from over in Perth. When I started to get a bit tense over a few issues, it was Greg who sent me a wonderful email, telling me that your first day in Queensland is a day in paradise, but the second day is better! If yesterday is anything to go by, his comments are far from an exaggeration! The afternoon sea breeze was just touching the 20kts, but was as steady as a rock, whilst the waters out on the day were a deep blue speckled with the white caps formed by the wind over tide. If the RQYS can serve these conditions up for the Worlds then it really will be a championship to remember!

Team Santa’s Bitches getting ready for the start in the big pre-christmas afternoon Pursuit Race. The on board party went on until past midnight! Mini Santa outfits seemed to be a popular choice for the ladies, with the post race party staying noisy until after midnight!

However, all in paradise may be quite what it seems! Out on the Committee Boat for the big pre-Xmas ‘all comers’ Pursuit Race (Christmas fancy dress obligatory), the start was laid in a mere 2m of water. With a number of creeks and inlets emptying into the bay, the ebb can run quite ferociously, which in conjunction with the shallows that extend across the racing area, can kick up a vicious short chop once the sea breeze butts heads with the tide. Yesterday though, sailing started at the bottom of the ebb, so the flood tide and wind conspired together to make for well nigh perfect Contender conditions.

Local sailor Stephen Toms, out burning up the Bay in conditions that were just about perfect for Contendering.

Now, thanks to David Attenborough, everyone knows that if you want to get stung, bitten, poisoned or just plain eaten, then Australia is the place to be! What the natural history programmes do not show is just how unfriendly some of the other wildlife can be. First there are the Ibis flocks, driven out to the coast zone by the ongoing drought inland. Think of an urban fox (not that dissimilar in size) with wings – any rubbish that is left around will quickly attract them, at which point they make one hell of a mess!

Team Ibis being shoo-ed away after rummaging in the bins outside of the Regatta Office. After next week, it will be the Contender sailors who’ll be getting told to “find somewhere else to make a mess”!!!

Then there are the magpies. Magpies don’t get the best of press, ‘thieving magpie’ is a common expression, but here there are Magpies that clearly have an attitude problem.

Magpies with attitude problems! Now of course, all cyclists here wear helmets (they do?) so are not at risk!

Contender sailors should be okay as a spare tiller extension will make an ideal anti-magpie defence weapon!!

Someone who can really fly, waiting for Tony White to make an appearance!

Finally, two bits of good news! Word is out that at long last, the Brit Box has escaped the clutches of Malaya and is now en route for Brisbane, where the latest eta is 0200 Christmas morning. Not sure if Santa can get a 40ft Container on his sleigh, with that timing it has to be an option. Shippers Peters and May are pulling out the stops here in Brisbane to get the Container through the very strict quarantine inspections as quickly as possible, despite this being in the midst of the festive season. No one can recover the lost two weeks, but if their efforts result in a fast tracking of the container from the port, clearly visible across the bay, to here, then they will have indeed worked miracles!

The other bit of good news is that the Worlds are being broadcast on Twitter (sounds like the magpies again), just go to the main World Championship website and you can pick up the Twitter feed from there, if not it is a simple case of going to….

http://twitter.com/2010contenders

David Henshall
Bearfacemedia/Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Manly

BRISBANE BLOG: Mulder-lite. A local brew best served up breezy

You know that you are at a top class event, when with 3 weeks to go until a World Championships kicks off, the big worry for the organisers is the lack of rain to turn the grass outside the sailing club green because “it looks so much prettier then”.

The ever present scorching sun that has baked the lawn in front of the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron to a crispy brown is just one headache for event organiser Suellen Hurling. Her other issue is the traditional reticence of competitors to register early. Currently, Suellen’s master list has 60 paid up entries, though there is hope that as the big day draws near, more local Contender owners will commit to attending the Championship, with sailors in other classes now looking at the availability of competitive boats that would allow them to enter. The final numbers are in line with predictions from the organisers, although they are only just 50% of the numbers that the class can attract at a top European location. It is easy to explain the difference as just another outcome of the global credit crunch, as getting boat, gear and helm around to the far side of the world is far from cheap. However, those that make the effort will be rewarded with a tightly run championship is a location that has to be considered in the same league as top sailing spots such as Lake Garda.

Although not as big as recent fleets at European Contender events, the upcoming Contender Worlds, the 40th in the history of the class, is lacking nothing in the quality of the competition. Even with a number of the big gun previous winners of the event choosing to stay at home for Christmas, the competition will be intense at the front of the fleet. Odds on favourite to take the Championships for an incredible 8th time has to be the current holder of the title, Italian ace Andrea Bonezzi. Andrea grew up sailing in the strong thermal breezes on the Italian lakes, so is unlikely to be fazed by the brisk sea breezes expected at Brisbane. As usual, Andrea will be sailing one of the immaculate cold moulded wooden boats built by his father Vito. These beautiful boats may be seen by many as a pre-requisite for winning boat speed, but Australians are not lacking in the belief that they can do things better their own way. The Australian built, all glass Dinghy Sports package is looking as if it could be very competition in the bouncy conditions that are so much a feature of Moreton Bay.

Andrea, as reigning Champion, may appear to have the advantage but the local conditions have thrown up unexpected winners in the past. Other top European title contenders will undoubtedly include Germany’s Christoph Homeier, who is a known threat in breezy conditions and Dane Lars Bo Rasmussen. For once, none of the British ex-World Champions will be attending, but they are more than made up for by Highcliffe’s Simon Mussell, an acknowledged flyer when the going gets tough.

The Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron is one of the top Contender locations, as this is their third hosting of the event (only Medemblik has held more) yet amazing an Australian sailor has never taken the title here.

When the event was held at Brisbane in 1988, it was won by Brit Steve Daniel. One of the Aussie sailors he beat on his way to the title was Steve Grimes, who is just one of a large contingent of ‘local’ sailors competing this time around. Based on recent international form, the best hope for a home win would appear to be with Jono Neate, who has been busy building up the big race experience, both at home and abroad, that is so necessary to compete for the top prize. Geoff Fisher and Chris Sutherland both have proven boat speed, but the real hot ‘white hope’ for the host club has to be local Matt Mulder. Matt, who has shed some 20 kilos to get down to a fighting weight inside the magic 100 kilo mark, has been busy developing his own breed of power sailing, that allows him to crash upwind through the steep but short seas, work the boat effectively downwind and yet hold things together when the conditions get seriously bouncy – as they can when the stiff nor-easters meet the strong ebb tides found out in the bay.

Top local Contender sailor Matt Mulder may have gone slimline compared to last year, but he still packs the power to drive his boat to the max in the brisk Brisbane conditions. If the strong winds blow, then Matt could be very much one of the front runners for the event, despite compromising his own preparations to ensure that the planning for the Championships runs smoothly.

Photo courtesy Suellen Hurling.

Watching the club sailing at the weekend, Matt looked in imposing form and a top class result for him here would be nothing sort of fully deserved, given the time and effort he has been putting in both afloat and ashore. As the driving force behind the event, Matt has worked tirelessly to ensure that the Class’s 40th Worlds are a great success, maybe he can top that with personal success for himself.

David Henshall
Bearfacemedia/Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Manly

BRISBANE BLOG: The latest

Will it be the Ghost of Christmas past, or Christmas future for the dozen sailors intending competing in the 40th Contender Worlds? With the scheduled start of the regatta set for immediately after the festive season ends, doubts are growing stronger by the day that the boats will not reach the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, host for the event, in time for any form of practice or acclimatisation.

As was reported last week, the container holding all of the boats, masts, sails, and sailing gear is still some 3,000 miles short of its destination. Having been left on the quayside in Malaysia, the search has been on for alternate routes to get the container not only down into Australia, but through the complex process of Customs Entry – and all before the wind down starts for what could be an extended Christmas Break.

Shippers Peters and May look to have exhausted the search for options and are back to just waiting for the next boat, which in theory would see the container arrive in the docks on Christmas Day. The other alternative, which involved sending the container to Sydney or Perth, then transhipping across Australia by train, has been discounted on grounds of cost. With the Contender sailors already paying the shipping charges themselves, to be suddenly hit with a huge overhead payment just makes the plan a non-starter ( as neither the shippers or the freight company at present seem unwilling to pay the extra for this themselves).

However, the container arriving in Brisbane, just an hour away from its final destination could still see the final delivery delayed by as much as 4 or 5 days. Having failed to get the boats to the event on time, the focus is now on Peters and May and their Australian representatives to pull something special out, to actually get the sailors reunited with their boats as quickly as possible.

With events in exotic locations becoming an ever more popular part of the dinghy racing scene, sailors will start to look for added reassurances that when discussing transport, that a given date is something that can be relied upon. Having let this particular group of sailors down once already, when the container failed to show at the agreed time for packing, this particular problem is growing bigger by the day, as the failure to meet the delivery date grows ever nearer. One would hate to cast Peters and May as the Scrooges in this story, but the fact remains that unless some very real seasonal spirit is shown – and soon, it will be a bleak Christmas indeed for the Team GBR boats.

Across the far east, container terminals such as this one at Singapore are working close to capacity. It is no surprise then that mistake do occasionally occur. Somewhere down there, or at another similar terminal further up into Malaya, is the container with a dozen GBR contenders. Will this make Brisbane in time, not just for the Worlds, but for the sailors to get some time afloat in the challenging conditions at Brisbane? Only time will tell.

David Henshall

Bearfacemedia/Singapore

Wind ready for 40th Contender World Championships

The Australian Contender Association and Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron (RQYS) are ready for the Contender sailors from around the world who will descend on Manly, on Brisbane’s Moreton Bay in Queensland, for the Australian and World Championships in a few weeks time.

The World Championships will run from 7 to 12 January 2010. Preceding the Worlds will be The Australian Championships from 3 to 6 January.

It is fitting that this 40th World Championship is returning to its spiritual home of Brisbane, as dinghy designer Bob Miller (later known as Ben Lexcen) designed the Contender in 1966 as a possible Olympic high performance single hander, to replace the Finn.

While the Finn survives, the Contender class has strong fleets in its country of birth Australia as well as in Italy, Germany, Denmark, UK, Canada and the USA.

European based World Championships have fleets of up to 150 boats but with the ‘tyranny of distance’, 60 is the target number for this 40th Championship ‘down under.’

The first World Championship was held at Hayling Island, Great Britain in 1970. In 1974 and 1988 the World titles were sailed out of the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron (RQYS). Now in RQ’s 125th year the Worlds return.

It will be all systems go for the summer sea breezes on the Morton Bay course as Suellen Hurling from RQYS reports, ‘It’s great Contender weather in January and this year the winds are really coming in hard. Come the Worlds it is pretty safe to say that we should get between 10 and 20 knots from the north-east and the breeze generally comes in at around 2.00pm or 2.30pm; racing is scheduled to start at two o’clock so it will hopefully fit in with Mother Nature.

‘Fifteen Contenders have just competed at Sail Brisbane on the Championship racecourse and tested it out. The event showed that the Contenders can get seriously out of control; we had about 27- 28 knots and some wet and wild racing.’

While the on water battles will be fierce, onshore things will be very different, as Hurling explains. ‘Most of the crews will be camping at RQ so it’s going to be a really social regatta; the camping site is nearly booked out. There will be free beer every afternoon after racing. The serious stuff is only going to be on the water.’

By Rob Kothe
Sail-World.com

All I want for Christmas is………

Word has it that the dozen sailors that will comprise the Team GBR for the 40th Contender Worlds, scheduled to he held in Brisbane in a few weeks, will be spending their weekend desperately writing notes to Santa.

Top of their wish list will be;

Boat, Mast, Sail, Sailing Gear – in fact all the items needed to compete at a Championship on the other side of the world. This sudden requirement has come about after the shipping container, that had been so carefully loaded in Southampton a month ago, has gone ‘walkabout’ 3,000 miles short of its destination. Instead of being on the high seas, heading for Brisbane, the container is believed to be stuck in a container park in Malaysia.

Shippers Peters and May have few options. The simple one, of waiting for the next boat, would see the container arrive during the festive break. With the Christmas shut down, any hold ups at customs (always a possible problem in Australia) would probably see the GBR boats being unpacked as the pre-worlds get under way. Other options, such as sending the container to Sydney or Perth, then transhipping across Australia by train, might shave a day or two from this bad news situation, but either way, unless there is a major new initiative from the shippers, the situation does not look good. The delay is particularly bad news for Simon Mussell, as with very hot weather bringing in strong sea breezes had to be considered very much a potential from runner at the event. Peters and May, aware of their reputation as first choice shippers for international events, will be working hard to try to retrieve the situation but for now, Team GBR can only hope that the festive good will has arrived early in the Shipping Offices of the Far East.

The Australians, who have been practicing hard for some time now in advance of the World Championships, have no such problems. Revenge for loosing the Ashes Series in the summer? Who knows…. But the answer now lies with ANL, Australian National Line, who as shippers for the final leg of the journey will either make this happen, or will leave Team GBR as the best team of trolley dollys yet seen at a Worlds!

David Henshall
Bearfacemedia

A landmark event for Class and Club

An Australian dinghy from the sketch pad of a young designer Bob Miller, who changed his name by deed poll to Ben Lexcen, is celebrating its 40th World Championship in its Queensland design birth place in January 2010.

It is a landmark event for the Contender, a single-handed high performance sailing dinghy, which was awarded International status in 1968 and now has fleets in more than twelve countries throughout the world.

The first World Championship was held at Hayling Island, Great Britain in 1970. The second World titles in 1972 held at Mebemblik, Germany was won by Brisbane sailor Peter Hollis who then defended his title in Italy in 1973.

In 1974 Matt Mulder, the current Queensland Contender Association President, was a baby in a bassinet on the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron (RQYS) rigging lawns when his Dutch born father Jan Mulder raced at the 1974 World titles, from the largest Queensland yacht club.

Mulder Junior sailed his first World Championships in 1988 in Brisbane and is very pleased to see them coming back again, in RQ’s 125th year.

‘The Contenders have always been strong in Australia. Four Australians have won the Worlds on a total of nine occasions, including the 2007 world champion Marcus Hamilton from Victoria.

‘We’ve been working towards this event for eight or so years. It will be a very high standard fleet. The last World Championship held in July 2009 at Sønderborg, Denmark was won by Andrea Bonezzi of Italy and Andrea will be going for his eighth World title in January, but there will be sailors from around the world and certainly a host of locals, led by Jonno Neate from Victoria, who will be keen to spoil the party.’

Event Co-organiser Suellen Hurling from RQYS explains. ‘It’s a big year for us, our third Contender Worlds in our 125th year; it’s pretty exciting for one club to host three World titles of the same class.

‘We’re expecting a fleet of around 70 Contenders to face the starter. Sailors from Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, and France have already entered.

‘It’s great Contender weather in January. It is pretty safe to say that we usually get between 10 and 20 knots from the north-east. It usually comes in at around 2.00pm or 2.30pm; racing is scheduled to start at two o’clock so that will hopefully fit in with Mother Nature.’

At this stage almost all the competitors are sailing the four day Australian titles ahead of the Worlds. And why would they not? – flat warm water, consistent sea breezes, and a great venue – a perfect holiday destination.’

2010 Australian Championships 3-6th January 2010
2010 World Championships 7-12th January 2010

NOR and online entry, more information at www.Contenderworlds2010.com

by Rob Kothe 4:18 PM Fri 6 Nov 2009
Sail-World link

Post early for Christmas

With only 55 shopping days left until Christmas and a country wide postal strike threatened, bigger items being sent away overseas need timely packing and dispatch. When those items include 11 Contenders, complete with masts, sails, trolleys and spares (not to mention a healthy collection of push bikes) which are all destined for Brisbane, it is essential that the timing is right. Therefore it is not very helpful when the lorry tasked with delivering the container breaks down, leaving a squad of frustrated Contender sailors waiting for 4 hours to start the complex task of preparing the boats for departure.

UK Contenders derigged and ready for loading. The big space in the middle should have been occupied by a 40ft container, this however was causing traffic chaos elsewhere in Southampton, as the truck had broken down.

Eventually a new haulier saves the day by delivering an alternative container, allowing work to start on getting the all important internal framework constructed, as this is needed to support the 4 layer stack of boats. Finally, with the woodwork completed, the complex task of fitting everything inside the 40ft long box could start. After 4½ hours of hard work, the last bag of sailing gear was squeezed in, the doors swung shut and sealed and the lorry departed on the short first leg of the journey (4 miles from Eastleigh to Southampton Docks). The sailors and their boats will be reunited just in time to celebrate Christmas ‘down under’ before racing starts in the 40th World Championship for the International Contender Class.

Richard Buttner and Chris Boshier complete the final loading of the container before it is sealed up and sent off on the long journey to Brisbane.

In many ways it is fitting that this milestone Championship is being held in Australia, as the Class has its roots firmly in the sunshine and strong steady breezes enjoyed there. Dinghy designer Bob Miller (who would later achieve sailing immortality by designing the Americas Cup yacht, that finally wrested the trophy away from the New York Yacht Club) drew heavily on the lines of the Flying Dutchman when he first drew the plans for the Contender in 1966. After competing in Selection Trials in La Baule and Medemblik, the IYRU (now ISAF) finally selected the Contender as the new international performance single hander, with the intention that the new boat would replace the aging Finn in the Olympics. In the four decades since then, block voting has kept the Finn firmly positioned as the Olympic singlehander, but this has not stopped the Contender establishing itself around the globe as a first choice option for sailors wanting top class competition.

Today, the Contender can claim strong fleets in Germany, Denmark, Italy, Australia, the UK as well as Canada and the US. In recent years dominance in the class has been shared between Australia and Italy, with Andrea Bonezzi looking to win the title for an incredible 8th time. However, if the expected strong breezes materialise, the UK’s own Simon Mussell could well be in the running for the top spot.

http://www.contenderworlds2010.com/

http://contenderclass.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=143

Pictures and text/ Bearfacemedia
david.henshall@bearfacemedia.co.uk