Dear Fellow Members,

Now that the Invictus Games 2018 have wrapped up, I would like to take the time to express my sincere gratitude to my fellow members of RPAYC for their generous sponsorship and ongoing support to our veteran community.

This sporting event was a massive undertaking for all those involved – IG management, sponsors, family, spectators and the competitors. From a competitor’s prospective, we had weekly training requirements and monthly camps – for the best part of a year I felt like a semi- professional athlete and apart of something bigger than just myself. From the games, I feel a massive positive “ripple effect” in regards to the public’s awareness focusing on veteran’s health and well being.

The training and competition journey has challenged me physically as well as mentally. My goal was to join the Australian team to help lift me from the mental adversities I have been struggling with. As my wife can attest, there were many a day I didn’t feel I would make it to  the opening ceremony, nor compete.

It was such an honor to share the podium with my good mate Craig McGrath for second place in the Jaguar Land Rover driving challenge. It was equally rewarding to dust-off the speedos (after a 20 year hiatus since my school days) to competitively swim again.

Now three months on, I am physically training more than I did in my Invictus Games journey. I remain in contact with a number of my teammates, and a few of us are continuing our work together towards a sailing campaign to compete in New Zealand in March. I am also in the process of drafting my expression of interest for the 2019 Warrior Games and the 2020 Invictus Games.

My return to sport has been massively supported by my wife and daughter, as well as by the generosity of sponsors such as RPAYC and Soldier On. I thank the club for this and I would  like you to know that the ongoing support by members is appreciated.

Sport is helping fine-tune my mental focus and commitment to my health. I have lost weight, I am feeling fitter in my daily family routines and I am connecting with people. Most importantly I am finding it is giving me time out to clear my mental landscape and to decompress.

Sincerely,

Scott Reynolds

Congratulations to RPAYC member, Daniel Links, who has just been crowned the 2019 Australian Optimist National Champion.  Well done!!

For all results - click here.

Drew Carruther’s Drew 15, Rushour  had a very comfortable trip north with pleasant hot meals to cross the finish line at 15:50 AEDT, taking multihull line honours in the 2019 Club Marine Pittwater to Paradise Regatta, Sunday 5 January.

An elated Drew commented: ‘’Whilst there can be up to 15 people crammed into a small monohull, on our multihull it is very comfortable and goes a relatively similar speed to the monohulls. We were very lucky, when Morticia unfortunately had to pull out we backed off a little with our only goal being to make sure that we were the first boat home which we obviously achieved. Once we got past the first night we had beautiful sailing, it wasn’t too rough just a little light on the wind at times.

It was disappointing to lose our fellow multihulls, but that is one of the risks in the sport. The next race for the boat will be Brisbane to Gladstone’’.

In the monohull fleet Pretty Woman, the Farr 45 co-owned by RPAYC Commodore, Michael Lockley, Richard Hudson and Russell Murphy, took line honours  finishing  at 16:57 AEDT.

Richard had this to say post-race: ‘’I thoroughly enjoyed the race, the toughest bit was getting around Cape Byron, that was physiologically challenging. Our crew morale was excellent, they had a lot of fun, a good mixture of youth & experience. This was our first line honours win outside a club race on board Pretty Woman so we are very pleased with that.
Highly Sprung were always close behind and it felt like they were attached on a piece of shock cord. What we did appreciate was that we led from the starting gun, we got out of the start nicely and never let anyone in front of us”.

Michael Lockley – RPAYC Club Commodore: ‘’We’ve had a good race, all of the Youth Development members on the boat were fantastic.  Our catering was right down to the wire and we may have run out prior to the finish.’

Commenting on the race itself Michael said ‘’A positive side of the Pittwater to Paradise Race is that it gives the opportunity for everyone to go racing whether it is north or south, with a different set of time restraints. Also ideal for those who are not yet up to a Hobart Race, or would like to use this as a stepping stone to the Hobart, it gives them an entrée into how a long ocean race might work and how you prepare and deal with it, how to put a crew together and who you need.  

The Race has been a success, unfortunately we have had a few retirements, the good news about that is people were able to make some decisions and get some safe outcomes if things didn’t quite go right’’.

Second over the line in the monohulls  and current  winner of IRC, ORCi & PHS, Mark Springs Beneteau 45 Highly Sprung  followed close on Pretty Woman’s heels only 14 minutes later at 17:11 AEDT, enjoying a very close battle.

‘’The first night was pretty rough for the new guys on the boat, it was definitely an initiation for them, then pretty much champagne sailing after that. 4 of us are very new to the sport of racing, having sailed for a long time but never raced offshore, then we have some amazing professionals on-board, with at least 6 very seasoned sailors. We had a ball, having Pretty Woman just ahead of us was a great motivation, we would look up and they were just there, they got away from us on the second day and so overnight the team worked really hard just pushing every second of it and we caught her. It was a great race and we look forward to a drink and chat with them’’.

At the time of writing we currently have 4 boats still racing with the next boat  due this morning. 

The fleet can be tracked here http://yb.tl/PS2019

Following the 370nm category 2 ocean race is the Southport Yacht Club’s spectacular summer offshore sailing regatta, the Bartercard Sail Paradise series. Four days of racing will be staged on the beautiful ocean waters off the Gold Coast’s golden beaches from Sunday 6 to Wednesday 9 January 2019. Both events have been combined to create an offshore series for competitors and the ultimate winner of the ‘Pittwater to Paradise Regatta’.

For more information visit: http://www.pittwatertoparadise.com.au/
Facebook: @pitt2paradise - Twitter: @Pitt2Paradise - Instagram: #pitt2paradise
Hash Tags: #pitt2paradise #RPAYC #clubmarine #henrilloydaus

Media enquiries during the race:
RPAYC Nick Elliott m. 0468 330 070 e. Nick.Elliott@rpayc.com.auor Katie Spithill m. 0438 548 755 e. KatieP@rpayc.com.au

SYC enquiries Bronwen Hemmings ph. (07) 5591 3500 e. Marketing.Manager@southportyachtclub.com.au

Pittwater to Paradise start video

Link: https://www.facebook.com/sailorgirlnic/videos/10158668523023868/

Embed:
<iframe src="/https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fsailorgirlnic%2Fvideos%2F10158668523023868%2F&show_text=1&width=560" width="560" height="427" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe>

Richard Hudson’s Farr 45 Pretty Woman continues to lead the monohull fleet north, however “Highly Sprung” are sticking to Pretty Woman like “bees to a honey pot” and have a handy lead on IRC overall.

It’s been no rest for the wicked, with Pretty Woman crewmembers’ Liam Bennett, James Farquharson & Michael Lockley, who all just finished in the Sydney to Hobart and flew straight back to compete in the Pittwater to Paradise, in a race that has turned into a real endurance battle. “I’m getting sick of tacking all the time” said an exhausted Liam Bennett. “Even when off watch, we are constantly having to change bunks each time to the windward side”.
Bennett referring to the strategical course the fleet is sailing, which is seeing nearly all the boats hugging the coast line to stay out of the south-going current.

A little further back from the battle at the front, Ocean Gem and Wildflower 2 seem to be having a great battle of their own, with both boats having their own match race up the coast. Both boats again doing their best to keep these cruiser racers up to speed and out of the adverse current, and are within shouting distance of each other at times.

Rushour, the lone horse left in the multihull division, is continuing to power away from the fleet as even though in their own words they “have throttled back a bit”, due to her multihull competitors retiring. Rushour, however is still hungry to be the first boat across the line!

Enigma have made a bold move and have gone east out to sea, and are the furthest offshore of the fleet. Time will tell if this bold manoeuvre pays off, however, in the meantime Enigma has a few miles to try and get back.

Meanwhile back on land is Mad Jack, who are already planning their 2020 race, we caught up with owner Greg Black earlier today: “As we wish the remainder of fleet in the Pittwater to Paradise Regatta the best for the race north, we wanted to provide an update on our injured bowman.
Louis ended up with a broken ankle and is now back in Brisbane with a cast on his ankle. Good to see he is still wearing the MJ shirt and with a smile on his face.

We were fortunate to have an incredible crew for the race who all worked together through a difficult time. Thank you, team!! An extra call out to our navigator (and fortunately for us a trauma surgeon) Professor Michael Muller, who had his hands full and did an incredible job on a 35ft yacht belting into a lumpy sea.

Lastly, thank you again to Craig, Tommy and the entire team from The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club – RPAYC, who were exceptional. We’ll be back”, commented an upbeat Greg.

The fleet can be tracked here http://yb.tl/PS2019

At this stage the race leaders are are expected to cross the finish line midday tomorrow (Saturday 5th January). We encourage spectators to join the Southport Yacht Club and take your boat just off the seaway and welcome the crews as they arrive at Southport .

Following the 370nm category 2 ocean race is the Southport Yacht Club’s spectacular summer offshore sailing regatta, the Bartercard Sail Paradise series. Four days of racing will be staged on the beautiful ocean waters off the Gold Coast’s golden beaches from Sunday 6 to Wednesday 9 January 2019. Both events have been combined to create an offshore series for competitors and the ultimate winner of the ‘Pittwater to Paradise Regatta’.

For more information visit: http://www.pittwatertoparadise.com.au/
Facebook: @pitt2paradise - Twitter: @Pitt2Paradise - Instagram: #pitt2paradise
Hash Tags: #pitt2paradise #RPAYC #clubmarine #henrilloydaus
Media enquiries during the race:
RPAYC Nick Elliott m. 0468 330 070 e. Nick.Elliott@rpayc.com.au or Katie Spithill m. 0438 548 755 e. KatieP@rpayc.com.au
SYC enquiries Bronwen Hemmings ph. (07) 5591 3500 e. Marketing.Manager@southportyachtclub.com.au
Pittwater to Paradise start video
Link: https://www.facebook.com/sailorgirlnic/videos/10158668523023868/
Embed:
<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fsailorgirlnic%2Fvideos%2F10158668523023868%2F&show_text=1&width=560" width="560" height="427" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe>
 

Media Release                                                                                                                     2 January 2019

Event: Club Marine Pittwater to Paradise Regatta January 2 – 9, 2019 hosted by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (NSW) & Southport Yacht Club (QLD)

With a spectator fleet of in excess of 60 boats the 2019 Club Marine Pittwater to Paradise Regatta got away in a light N NE Breeze from 100-120 at approx 7knots.

The official weather briefing was presented by a representative from the Bureau of Meteorology which anticipated a N NE Breeze of 15-25 knots over the next 24-48hrs.

In the monohull fleet Richards Hudson’s Farr 45 Pretty Women made it clear they had a plan to start at the pin which they had to fight for with Marcus Grimes and his crew onboard Insomnia the Judel & Vorlijk 42.

With the multihulls starting 5 minutes behind the monohulls it didn’t take Shaun Carroll’s Lombard Tri, Morticia more than a few minutes to establish its dominance in both the monohull and multihull fleet. Soon after passing Pretty Woman (monohull leader) Morticia was the first boat to get onto port tack and head east chasing more favourable winds.

‘After a clean start for both fleets the competitors have already encountered their first transition of the race with a S SE’erly starting to settle into the North, I am sure the navigators are already being heavily utilised’ commented Race Director, Nick Elliott.

The fleet can be tracked here http://yb.tl/PS2019

Following the 370nm category 2 ocean race is the Southport Yacht Club’s spectacular summer offshore sailing regatta, the Bartercard Sail Paradise series. Four days of racing will be staged on the beautiful ocean waters off the Gold Coast’s golden beaches from Sunday 6 to Wednesday 9 January 2019. Both events have been combined to create an offshore series for competitors and the ultimate winner of the Pittwater to Paradise Regatta.

For more information visit: http://www.pittwatertoparadise.com.au/
Facebook: @pitt2paradise - Twitter: @Pitt2Paradise - Instagram: #pitt2paradise
Hash Tags: #pitt2paradise #RPAYC #clubmarine #henrilloydaus

Media enquiries during the race:
RPAYC Nick Elliott m. 0468 330 070 e. Nick.Elliott@rpayc.com.auor Katie Spithill m. 0438 548 755 e. KatieP@rpayc.com.au

SYC enquiries Bronwen Hemmings ph. (07) 5591 3500 e. Marketing.Manager@southportyachtclub.com.au

Pittwater to Paradise start video

Link: https://www.facebook.com/sailorgirlnic/videos/10158668523023868/

Embed:
<iframe src="/https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fsailorgirlnic%2Fvideos%2F10158668523023868%2F&show_text=1&width=560" width="560" height="427" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe>