Vanuatu

Sydney Sculptures – few favourites

A few favourites from this years Sydney Sculpture festival!

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Winners!

Very proud of my team CV 28 – PSP Logistics – AKA Team Excellence for winning the epic Race 2 to Rio de Janeiro. The tactics to go East in the doldrums paid dividends and even though they stopped to assist another boat with fresh water, were only pipped to the line honours by 19 seconds! On a 5000 Mile race that is phenomenally close. Seeing as they did stop though they were redressed with over an hour so came out winners nonetheless! Hopefully the awards can continue around the world!

Leader of the pack!

Check it maybru! We are only in the lead! Happy days!

PSP Clipper gets a Ripper

PSP Clipper gets a Ripper!

Follow all the latest action here – http://yb.tl/clipper2013-leg2

 

Sailing

Long time no post! Too busy for the internet I guess which is no bad thing! The official training for the clipper round the world is now complete with Levels 1,2 and 3 all sorted. Level 3 was very different to 1 and 2, not only because it was nice and hot but we also got to finally taste the new 70’s! Two feet longer but with a considerably different lay out both inside and out, it definitely feels like a more serious and modern racing yacht than its little sister the 68. With a centralised galley, the nav station towards the stern and bunks more spread out I personally felt there was more room, although others felt more cramped. The sails are no longer in and around your bunk but rather in a place of their own which makes for more comfort and better organisation. Two coffee grinders allow for the gorillas to really get pumped on winching up the sails, but care is needed not to over do it and ensure what is being ground is what is intended! Another difference is the twin steering system that allows you to helm from either up high or down low, depending on your preference. I really liked this addition not to mention the back support / protection that means you feel slightly less exposed from the derriere! Team GB is currently in Trafalgar square so if you are in London get on down there to check out its full splendour, albeit with a rather puny temporary mast! We are still Team Chris Excellence with no official sponsor as yet but I’m sure that will be announced soon and as most of the crew are from eastern Australia it’s likely to be from that neck of the woods! This week we found out the leg 4 and 5 destinations and starting points, not to mention a better idea of dates. Good news is I’ll be leaving from Brisbane on the 6/7/8 January but the awesome news is that the Sydney to Hobart race has been added to Leg 4! How jealous am I and how tempted to add leg 4 to the itinerary!? So further training continues, albeit unofficially, with racing and friends around Sydney as the start date looms and the bug for being on the water all the time sinks its teeth deeper….. I’m not going to bore you and post yet more training pictures and videos, but below is the schedule. 

My leg as you can see is split into three sections and two clear races, from Brisbane to Singapore and on from there to Qingdao. Its the longest leg and has both extremes of heat and cold. The first section is beating north up the Gold Coast past the awesome Whitsundays and the Northern Territories. The second sees us enter the Doldrums and cross the equator into tropical temperatures and remote Papua New Guinea communities on into the South China Sea and Singapore. Here there will likely be Monsoon winds and possibly some severe weather systems. Tropical heat will then gradually turn bitterly cold with thermals and layers the order of most days and snow likely. The sea will be rough and sporting as we head to Qingdao in China, so this leg really has it all!

Ciao for now!

GoPro New Zealand

A long time ago but the footage has only just become available. Skiing above the clouds at The Remarkables was just that, although we were a little early in the season so the pow pow was limited! So Los Tres Toros hit Queenstown last year with a relatively new GoPro…. this was the result. Now we have two, Japan beckons for 2014 with more Toros in tow (hopefully), with better perspectives and possibly some more adventurous filming and action! I’m new to this video editing malarkey but getting better slowly, I’m just using Movie Maker at the moment which isn’t very powerful but at least easy to use while I try and figure out Adobe Premiere, which is very complicated (for a novice!) Salud!

Training day

Just finished Level 1 and Level 2 training for the Clipper round the World race. The idea being that as Gosport is pretty far from Sydney Id do them back to back. It worked out pretty well albeit very tiring. The first week was super organised and naturally we were all keen as buttons to get involved, the second week was a little slower and by day 11 I got a stomach bug so my enthusiasm and sense of humour waned some what! Nevertheless it was great training and massive amounts of experience and knowledge were gained. Emergency procedures, sail changes, racing tactics, drills, points of sale plus much more were covered across the Solent and Channel and we “raced” across to Falmouth, down to the Channel Islands, round Alderney and back up covering nearly 1000 miles along the way. Australians, Russians, Norwegians, Brits, Swiss to name a few nationalities joined the throng and the camaraderie was excellent. The weather was unseasonably cold and we had force 7/8 conditions at times but it was great practice and the cold weather gear kept us all warm and dry when the waves weren’t crashing overhead! I bought a GoPro so enjoy the filming and stills below and if you are considering the training beware of the last clip!

Down Under

Really enjoying being in Manly, similar in some ways to Camps Bay in Cape Town, Manly’s got that village feel to it without feeling far from everything. Sandwiched between two beaches we are perfectly placed with the parks and views from north head only a short cycle ride away. It has the best snorkeling in New South Wales and fantastic surf plus we could eat at a different restaurant every night of the year if we could afford it! 🙂 Heading off to the UK for a month and will sorely miss the southern hemisphere. Back to back compulsory training on level 1 & level 2 for the clipper 13/14 race, I’m nervous and excited but dreading the cold and hoping that the arctic conditions improve before we go out to sea! Will try to take lots of GoPro footage and pictures to post up afterwards.

Some panoramic views:

Manly Cove Manly Beach North head looking back to the city

Manly cove sunset

My neighbourhood – some more amore!

The walkway / boardwalk from Manly to Shelly beach is awesome, and I guess these couples thought so too! It’s not quite the Ponte Milvio in Rome, but I love this gesture. Some have braids and engravings – great bit of urban graffiti!

I didn’t see any with combination locks…..which was nice!

My Neighbourhood