Super Cruiser Racer Regatta
Port Stephens Regatta was perfect for Wine~Dark Sea. Close enough to home we didn’t need to take too much time out for delivery & racing; while there was still plenty of momentum with the crew.
Pete will update you more on the regatta in his next post.
I’m just here to talk about behind the scenes, uniforms, entry process, boat prep, provisioning & deliveries. The stuff no one really sees.
Entry
This was by far the easiest race I have entered us in. Far from the copious amounts of documentation for the CYCA’s bluewater series, I worriedly emailed ‘Sail Port Stephens’ to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. The documentation was, as named, – Super Cruisy!
Prep
No adventure is complete without the prep.
Thankfully the boat has been kept in great shape so there wasn’t too much to do.
It was down to the glamourous job of heads & hull cleaning! I take the heads & Pete takes the hull. A hot tip …. Don’t clean the head while Pete’s down cleaning the hull….
Pete’s latest toy acquisition was from Bunnings. A waterproof, battery-powered Ryobi scrubbing brush (found after many hours of my own ‘research’—i.e., scrolling). He’s given it a few goes but turns out it’s a bit too enthusiastic for cleaning while submerged. So, we’re back to regular doodle bug scrubbing brush. (The potting shed is getting rather full with Ryobi)
Who wore it better?
Our crew for this regatta are mostly, long time Wine-o’s, but many haven’t sailed on WDS since we got the new uniforms. I didn’t have time to order more technical shirts, but we had enough in our stocks to go around. Elisha Wulff had ordered some ‘shore crew’ shirts with logo for the Hobart campaign through Quality Marine Clothing. She had some spares which went into the stocks, that was a lifesaver for crew uniforms.
The new après shirts are somewhat contentious….Wineos have a long history of dress ups and loud & proud (somewhat unattractive Hawaiian shirts). We get so many comments some good, some say we look like we’re in fishing shirts. BUT THEY ALWAYS SAY SOMETHING and I think they’ve made us a crowd favourite amongst the crews with bigger budgets and their fully merch ’ed out crews! I love them & think they’re fun!
I ordered a bunch more shirts from Temu – yes that’s right, fast, unethical fashion, you won’t know what you get until it arrives. They’ve been fine so far, they arrived with plenty of time so no stress there. We’ve had outfits arrive morning of!
Delivery
But we weren’t keen on copping a full week’s worth of marina fees, so the plan was to have the shortest amount of time in the marina as possible. Since the delivery run up the coast landed mid-week, the crew were all either working OR they are already based north, so it was just us (and Missy). Pete’s a veteran of the east coast —95 nautical miles is no biggie for him—but 95 miles is still, well, 95 miles. We logged 15 hours up, and 12 hours back.
We debated whether to head up Wednesday night to Pittwater, dropping anchor for a decent sleep & a shorter sail on the Thursday. The weather forecast tipped the balance—light nor’easters overnight promised a smoother, faster ride than Thursday’s Easterly. So, we left at about 4pm on Wednesday & motor sailed through the night.
I always take the 3-6am watch. It’s my favourite. You often get to see the moon and the Sun in the same sky and the occasional burst of phosphorescence trailing astern. It’s incredible! I didn’t get the moon & the sun in the same sky this time, but I did get the brightest moon as it was all most full as it chaperoned us to Port Stephens. There’s a certain peace to night sailing. The below photo is a bit blurry I know but it really captures just how bright the moon was.
I didn’t sleep well on my off watch, I had to go for a nap as soon as my watch was over, a 20 minute powernap was just what I needed to get ready to dock. Pete sleeps as soon as his head hits the pillow…..
We arrived in Port Stephens at around 7 am and were happy with our decision to leave when we did. Pete had to work during the day, but the day was mostly spent napping. As we arrived, we were greeted into Port Stephens with a unique rainbow. We knew it was going to be a great few days of racing.
On the way home, we left around 6am. We had very rolly seas. I was a little nauseous, a pop of a ‘Travel Calm’ did the trick and I was fine. We had a varied mix of sailing, motor sailing & motoring for the 12 hours home. For short trips like this, we’ve found that the main is all too hard and the jib gets the job done with a lot less hassle.
Pete did some fishing. Much to my horror, he took a nap while the line was still out. I don’t know what I would have done if we caught something. I’m sure I’ve mentioned I have a fish phobia.
We were dressed ready for the rain, it was on the radar and we could see it, but we had very little rain, wasn’t worth the suit up. Missy also has a full set of wet weathers – she is not amused 🙂
It was so nice that the crew kept an eye-out for us, sending through screenshots of the forecast & our position on AIS . We’re always grateful for this.
Provisioning
Provisioning used to mean hours—sometimes a whole day—toiling away in the kitchen, prepping meals for the journey. But we’ve done a total 180 on that front. The turning point was up in Southport, prepping for a delivery to Mackay with Al and Larissa Chase. There we were, in an unfamiliar Woollies, hunting for foil containers and deciphering what we’d actually be able to cook in our accommodation kitchen where the cooking equipment is sparse. Meanwhile, everyone else was propping up the bar enjoying the festivities that an end of a race brings. Then I saw the ready-made meals section – lasagne, curries & my fav, Mac n Cheese. It hit me: why are we doing this the hard way? That’s the moment we joined the “ready-made revolution” for deliveries.
For this trip, we only needed two meals each for the way up and back. We trialled some air fryer meals that double as oven bakes—salmon with veg, lamb shanks with mash, Chicken Parmi, Karaage Chicken with sweet potato. The packs say 10 minutes, but in the boat’s oven, it’s more like 20.. At $15 or $12 a meal, it’s hardly pricier than cooking from scratch once you factor in quality ingredients and the faff of containers. And there’s no price tag on cutting out the stress and getting more time to enjoy the journey. Quick dash to Woollies, a flick of the oven switch, and dinner’s sorted—we’re totally sold.
I did try to get a bit inventive—dug some leftover potato flatbread from the freezer and made mini pizzas for the night watches. Honest review? The bases were a bit thick and heavy, but the idea was a winner: warm, filling, easy to stash in the freezer for next time. We also grabbed some frozen mini pizzas for late night snacks, but they were a bit sad in the boat oven. Maybe with a few extra toppings they’d perk up, but really, I’m chasing the holy grail of simple, tasty, ready-made food you can just bung in the oven and enjoy.
Freeloading Crew
Regatta life with a furry crew member is a whole new challenge—Missy is a certified people dog, determined to greet everyone to get all the pats. Most of the crew are dog people so that was handy, and those who aren’t still gave her pats – after all, those manipulative eyes, you can’t resist. Meals out, needed to be dog-friendly (thankfully, most spots are these days).
Missy’s always been great on the boat – hence the nickname ‘boat dog’, but as we did so much racing last year, she didn’t get much boat time, we need to gradually get her used to life afloat again. She did well overall: Was a shadow most of the trip, the occasional hiding in the potting shed but mostly her tail wagging, she always found a lap, and newly, napping on the spinnaker in the cockpit to take comfort on. She’s more settled under motor than sail—the flapping sails and winches spook her a bit, but with more cruising (and fewer races) on the cards this year, she’ll get plenty of practice. It’s all a learning curve—balancing the adventure of racing, the joy of cruising, and making sure Missy finds her sea legs along with us.
There was a funny moment when we docked at RSYS, she jumped off the boat onto the dock, we thought she was limping. We thought she may have hurt herself, I don’t think she did, I think she was rocking and hadn’t found her sea legs yet 😊 It righted pretty quickly but was quite funny to see your puppy looking drunk!
winedarkseablog 