To be amongst the tall ships and the sailing tales of the crew
To sail away
Tech Note
These images were captured during the 1988 Hobart to Sydney Tall Ship Race on colour transparencies. I have rephotographed these with my digital camera using an Emora slide copier extension tube attached to the my camera lens.
the phosphorescence sparkling in the wake of my boat
as she cuts her way through the sea
the light autumn breeze providing her power
silence and darkness
The full moon of Easter has passed
in the last hours of darkness she arises
the waning moon
she sucks the sparkle from the sea
turning it into her own week ribbon of light
Our moods are joined as one
this my last night at sea
the waning of my adventure
dawn will bring my home port and another voyage finished
But like the waning moon
its a phase
in a little while a new cycle will begin
as with the heavens life is a series of cycles
some more spectacular than others
but cycles of the rhythm of life.
I conceived this poem sailing back from Hobart to Melbourne a few years past. It was a magnificent night and I was off Cape Shank heading west along the Victorian coast when the waning moon rose in the east behind me. The morning would see me clear The Rip and head for home.
Rounding the mark and heading for home in the women’s 470 final
It was a beautiful early summer day and here I was a volunteer official on the finish line of the last round – the medal round – of the ISAF World Cup.
I know a little about race officiating but was a little nervous about such a big event as we waited at St Kilda Marina to pick of the other officials. My club the Hobsons Bay Yacht Club had provided our club boat to be the set the finish line and record the results.
Maria from Valencia (oh how I loved Spain) quickly assured us that we needed to just do as she said. Press the hooter when she said now, raise the flag when she said now etc.
She was a quiet woman but chatting away after fine tuning the reach angles and waiting for starts her experience was slowly revealed an on water official at two Olympics, Principal race offer for the TP52 series in Europe.
Great I just did what I was told, enjoy the racing and take some photos.
470 men’s start
From the boat we had a great view of the start and the final rounding mark leading to the finish.
We were officiating 5 races all deciding the series for that class.
There was the Men’s and Women 470 class.
Men’s 470s under spinnaker
The Finn a hard boat to sail for big strong blokes.
Finn Start
Jake Lilley of Australia using all his strength to keep the boat flat and heading for the medal
The women’s laser radial and men’s laser the boats of single handed skill.
Maneuvering at the start of the Women’s Laser Radial
The last race the Men’s laser
A tightly fought race,
with a fairy tale end.
Thumbs up as he gets the winners signal
With Pavlos Kontides winning his first ever international series gold medal, having won an Olympic Silver Medal and many other placings in a decade of senior sailing in the laser.
