Beyond Outrageous Yacht Racing

Short handed racing

An exciting start to our Melbourne 2 Osaka (M2O) campaign. The race to Queenscliffe this weekend saw me (Shelley) on the helm for the first time. Beyond Outrageous sailed well with no adjustments to our handicap for short handed racing.
On the way down to Queenscliffe we lost some time in swapping headsails, gear change down from #1 to #3. Long time since Tony has done the foredeck (sic. getting a bit old). I believe however that we kept pace with everyone in what turned out to be a drag race. Parked over night at Queenscliffe with a great time had by all at the pub. It was a lovely opportunity to get to know more of the crew members from all the other boats except for Addiction who chose to moor elsewhere.

Two finger helming

Trip home was delayed by a few sleepy heads, including the start boat, Gienah. Only us, Remedy and Sea Eagle where at the Channel Pile at 11am with Addiction coming in fast from the North.
Start of the race was exciting for me as we threw up a Mast head .75 Square Spinnaker, wine glassed to give everyone else a head start. LOL. Primitive Cool was the only boat to put up a Headsail to start, following the starting instructions to the letter. The good news is that this didn’t hold them back too much and they spectacularly went through the finish line in close proximity to Matrix. Well done boys and girls.
As for us, after gybing for the third time (I can handle a 5.5m pole) across the finish line we had to get the spinnaker down before we hit the beach. This was interesting as the wind we had been praying for picked up just as we crossed the line. Managed to bring the kite down, would’ve been handy if we had auto helm at this point, Tony had to leave the tiller a couple of times to help me get 180sm of material into the hatch.
Much enjoyed and looking forward to Apollo Bay.

A BIG THANK YOU FROM ALL OF THE CREW TO ALL THE SUPPORTERS OF KISS GOODBYE TO MS

WE THINK YOU’RE AWESOME!!!

Wow! what a race and what a party in Hobart.
Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron ocean racing boat Beyond Outrageous rebranded to become part of Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia’s awarenes and fundraising campaign Kiss Goobye to MS. We were proud to play our part in this campaign by completing the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race 2011 with KGTMS logos emblazoned all over our hull and sails as we lined up on the front starting line with the big boys. We
held our own against 100ft maxis like Wild Oats as we made our way through the specatators lining the course in every kind of water craft imaginable with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge as picture postcard backdrops. Making our way out of the heads, we turned right, hoisted our trademark spinnaker and flew downwind on adrenalin and the remains of a northeasterly.

The expected rough southerly came and we ploughed through it in our normal BO way. Yes, most of us felt sick, but we pushed on through. Then the wind died down and we made slow progress. Light winds are almost as hard going as strong winds on the ocean. Eventually, we rounded Tasman Island and crossed Storm Bay towards the final leg up the Derwent River. The excitement of that start was surpassed by the excitement of the finish just over 4 days later.

It was fabulous to be able to come up the Derwent to Hobart and Constitution Dock with the masthead square spinnaker flying, brazenly showing a big red kiss to the welcoming crowds lining the dock. it was even more heartwarming to meet Donna and Peter with their gift of crayfish (thanks Guys, yum!) and the inspiring Gilli, who had not wasted her day waiting for us to arrive but had gone collecting donations from the sizeable crowd (nice one Gilli!) Gilli’s tip for aspiring collectors: The more they’ve had to drink, the more they donate

After a lovely start to the return trip from Hobart to Melbourne. Crayfish for dinner, courtesy of Peter and Donna. Thank you they were very much appreciated.

The first night was in a lovely cove and this is where things started to look not so good. Tony spent some time with Robin Hewitt on Yoko to discuss weather. It is apparent that there will be some rather nasty wind up to 70 Knots coming through and it is going to be on the nose. The idea of bashing into that for two days and one night proved too much for all on board and it has been decided to turn back to Hobart. I have just booked myself a flight so that I can assist in bringing KG2MS back to Melbourne. Normally this would not be too big a deal but Tony is intent on entering the Audi Australia Week in Geelong where we can further raise awareness and funds for MSRA. We want to see Kiss Goodbye to MS take home a few more accolades. For Bayer to feel that we are a good investment and to put those beautiful new sails to good use.

Thank you for watching.

Thank you to all who followed KG2MS from Sydney to Hobart. We apologize for the temporary malfunction that saw this website crash.

After a long race of tactics and differing conditions KG2MS finally crossed the finish line in Hobart in front of Constitution Dock at 5:24pm on Friday 30th December. Officially placing 5^th in ORCi, Division 2 and 7^th in IRC Division 2.

Waiting on the docks were the wives and girlfriends of the crew and as we all raced to the pen to meet our respective other halves, the yacht was towed in due to problems with the motor.

Also with us was a lovely couple from Bridport Tasmania who had travelled down especially to meet the crew. Donna has MS, she and her husband Peter had waited with me for 2 hours with our eyes fixed firmly on the finish line.

Order of priorities was to get the boat sorted with all the sails packed up and brought out to dry. Pick up spare clothes from the container that was sent down from Sydney. Then to accommodation, once that was sorted it was food and a celebratory drink not necessarily in that order.

It is traditional that all crew go to Custom House on Morrison St to quench the thirst they have worked up during the race and to exchange all the stories of how they won or, lost the race.

NEW YEARS EVE

We were informed late on Friday that Bob and Shaz had planned to have a simple wedding ceremony on New Year’s Eve followed by a reception at the “Ball and Chain Steakhouse”.

The crew attended the wedding in St David’s Park, then walked to the end of Salamanca Place to the Ball and Chain and enjoyed an early dinner. Following that it was back to the Penthouse apartment that overlooked the harbour to watch the early fireworks and share some drinks. The Midnight fireworks were observed from the deck of KG2MS as is tradition.

Thank you for watching.

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Currently 6th in ORCi Div 2, and 5th in IRC Div 2. A big improvement. Go Girl! )

Photos taken by Karen Lindsay.

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http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/yacht_tracker.asp

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/sailing-to-hobart-is-the-easy-part-for-melbourne-yacht-20111225-1p9nv.html

We made it to page 2 of the Age Newspaper and by the look of the race tracker KG2MS is where she wanted to be. Neck and neck with Jazz Player with Elle Bache close by. Halfway to Eden. As expected the Maxis are way ahead but in my mind the real race is with the majority of the fleet as they jostle for position and vy with each other for the best wind.

Below photos of the sequence of events on the day.

Ready for sign in with Tri-sail and Storm Jib in place ready to hoist.

Flying our colours on Trade Winds

Spectator fleet

Elle Bache and KG2MS playing tag

You can see the weather was not so nice for the start with a dark sky and a thunder storm threatening to rain on us.

Heading out the heads

Spinnaker up and she's away

Thank you for watching.

Shelley

This morning all went well as the crew left their respective accommodation. Briefing at CYCA told them what to expect weather wise.
Just after 10am Shaz and I brought the last of the pre-prepared food down to KG2MS. It was decided to move out of the pen and swing off the back of Lauraine’s boat “Trade Winds” to chill out and not get caught up in all the hype.
I hitched a ride as Trade Winds was where I was going to be watching the start of the race.
It was amazing! Sailing along the edge of the start line. We kept pace with the yachts all the way to the heads.
The spinnaker went up on KG2MS and off over the horizon they went.

The Crew

Weather briefing

All prepared with the right information and ready for the Big Day.