Travelling to the Nationals

Boxed in Sharpies

The Nationals are only a couple of days away now. In the lead up to Christmas the Vita Brevis team has had a hectic preparation schedule. The preparation payed off with Vita Brevis currently leading the Traveller series and taking out the Country championship in Busselton.

The Boat was packed into a container which has now arrived at Black Rock sailing Club. Brendon and David are currently making their way to Melbourne via road. Helping out Scott Olsen on the Melbourne leg of his journey to Sydney. They are due in Melbourne on Christmas day. Rhyss will be flying in rock star style on Boxing Day just in time for the cricket at the G.

Looks like it will be a Cracker of a game.

Then its onto setup and measure for the nationals.

Merry Christmas to Everyone

Huck scott complete

The Last heats of the Huck Scott winter series were completed on Saturday with a fresh 12-15knot breeze from the North. Rottnest was intermittently covered by cloud which provided a good breeze to sail the Sharpie in. Vita Brevis completed 7 out of 8 races in the series.

Overall it has been a light series of races with not alot of swell however the It was still good to get out on the water. FSC was meant to give the crew a good test at using the power of the waves which is the most similar to black rock conditions. The last 2 heats and a practice sessions have turned on the swell a bit however there is much practice still to be done.

There is one more practice session left in Freo before the Boat moves back to MBSC for practice sessions.

Thankyou to FSC Dinghy club and its Volunteers for putting on an enjoyable series.

VB

Results will follow soon when they are announced

Frostbite Results

 Series Results [Class Pos] for Sharpie up to Race 5 (Drops = 0)

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Crew	Crew.	From	Sers Score	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		924/893	Blur	M Higgins	? Chisholm	? Sanderson	BSYC	5.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
2		912	Wet Dream	S Higgins	P Marsh	D O'Toole	LBSC	19.0	4.0	4.0	5.0	4.0	2.0
3		915	Don't Poke The Bear	T Turton	A ??	R ??	BSYC	21.0	3.0	6.0	3.0	3.0	6.0
4	3.0S	911	Vita Brevis	D Meehan	R Edwards	B Green	Mandurah	22.0	2.0	3.0	2.0	5.0	10.0
5		920	Bread Run	H Jason	I Mark	D James	ASC	22.0	6.0	2.0	7.0	2.0	5.0
6		831	2 MC's & 1 DJ	J Heywood	B Littledike	N Fewster	ASC	30.0	5.0	5.0	4.0	7.0	9.0
7		896	Moe's Tavern	D Snoad	P Kirk	B Osborne	ASC	39.0	9.0	7.0	6.0	6.0	11.0
8		925	TBA	K Peter	R Jamie	D Pete	BSYC	48.0	13.0	8.0	10.0	9.0	8.0
9		817	Nightmare	B Flint	R Kelly	J Flint	PLYC	52.0	10.0	11.0	8.0	10.0	13.0
10	4.0S	866	Dozen Matter	P Barwick	D Nixon	R Gossink	PLYC	53.0	8.0	13.0	13.0	15.0	4.0
11		884	Pre-Mature	C Martin	E Fisher	M Ablett	ASC	53.0	7.0	12.0	15.0	12.0	7.0
12	8.0S	832	Murderess	T Carlson	W Grey	D Morgan	PLYC	55.0	12.0	9.0	11.0	8.0	15.0
13		917	Finger Jam	B Russ	A Wright	L Hookings	PLYC	55.0	11.0	10.0	9.0	11.0	14.0
14		830	Sugar Daddy	B Windram	C Larkin	A Hughes	ASC	66.0	14.0	14.0	12.0	14.0	12.0
15		878	Rage Factor	N Deussen	J Bannister	F Paterson	BSYC	75.0	18.0S	18.0S	18.0S	18.0F	3.0
16		791	Salted Nuts	P Kelly	T Tapley	S Kelly	PLYC	78.0	18.0S	15.0	14.0	13.0	18.0F
17		731	The Gong Show	C Trenberth	E Russ	A Russ	TBYC	81.0	15.0	16.0	16.0	16.0	18.0F

 If only we had a drop

The Long drive home

After the weekend series finishes while other crews soaked up the presentations we decided to get some miles on the clock towards home. Our aim was to shave 1 hour off our record by reducing our break times. The result however was quite funny.

On the way over Dave was boasting how he got into our 2 hour rotation of driving sleeping and peeing. Unfortunately we spent our time stopping for Dave to pee on the side of the road in between the 2 hour stops. After contemplating peeing into a macca's cup for half an hour and how he should do it. I offered to stop for him. This happened 3 times including making sneaky excuses to stop to check the trailer. It must of been the only thing keeping him awake as he nodded off soon after releiving himself.

We managed to make good time in the end and didn't see too much wildlife. However we did have fun aiming for the mice as they ran across the road in front of us. Our new trailer worked well and we now deserve a nice shower to get rid of the BO.

Cheers

Rhyss

Hard day at the office

Sunday we had an amendment to the program with the race committee opting for 4 races to make up for the lack of wind on Saturday. The wind built to a steady 8-12 knot NE breeze which allowed for great racing between the fleet.

 

Today we worked the boat hard to achieve the following the results: 5, 2, 3, 2. We were very happy with this performance although in the end we finished overall in 4th position as there was no drops in the series and we had to carry a 10 from day 1. Although disappointing we are pleased with our result as we really put the challenge to the SA fleet.

 

Although the sun was shining the water temperature was the coldest we had experienced yet. During the races we were working hard enough to keep warm but in between the temperature started to kick in. Finishing 2nd in the last race allowed us to make a swift dash to the beach and start to pack up the boat ready for the journey home.

 

Blur sailed a perfect series in the end with 5 bullets proving their experience. Congratulations to Mal Higgins and his crew. Even after they managed to swirl their complementary bottle of Port before the finish of the first race (Mal Suggests this is their tradition)

 

The Port Lincoln frostbite is definitely a regatta to remember and we would like to thank the Club and the SA Sharpie Association for their hospitiality. We unfortunately couldn't stay for the presentations as we needed to start heading home. We will post overall results when we get a copy of them.

 

Cheers from the Vita Brevis Team

(2 hours from Perth with a 6 pack of Corona left)

Breeze dies out

We managed to get 1 race in yesterday out of 3 with the breeze fading to absolute nothing by the end of the race. Everyone gave up heading straight back for the bar using any means possible to get back. The use of spinnaker poles as oars on the bow was a popular method. We waited for a tow in.

We finished mid fleet with the race getting off to a shaky start with the breeze shifting left at the start when we were at the boat. We recovered well but it was all on at the first bottom mark we had gybe set and were screaming in all lined up when the boats behind us decided they were going to barge in at the bottom mark. After that the course had became one board upwind while continually fading.

We drifted to the finish line with a new rule being invented. If I mioved and it was felt in the boat I got punched from both sides. Anyway it was a good race but we had hoped for more Hopefully today brings more with more races scheduled if any breeze blows

Cya

Rhyss

We made it

After a 26 hour long drive we have arrived in port lincoln.

 

Unfortunately the winds are as light as they are in WA with 0-5 knot SE/SW predicted. At the moment (see picture) there is nothing!

 

Last night we sat in the bar (probably with bad BO) and blew all the red dust out of our throats with a nice cold corona. The bar maid Hayley is very nice after we walked in we were offered a beer straight away. We have to remember to save our cans and bottles as there is a refund in SA for 5c each. Geoff could make a small fortune by the end of the weekend with amount of diet coke brendon has drunk

 

Todays racing consists of 3 back to back races starting at 1:30. So for now its off to unpack the boat and get ready for sailing.

 

Cheers

 

Rhyss