Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478 Newsletter Items, Idle Gossip, etc to [email protected] (deadline midnight Monday) Commodore Phill Robbins Club Newsletter 0466668541 05/02/19 Vice Commodore Jonathan Horsley 0412798505 Rear Commodore Chris Hallett 0414866998 Secretary Nola Hallett 0414866999 Treasurer Norm Hunt 66291366 Class Reps Gennakers – Duncan Dey Catamarans – Col Woodbry Trailers – Ian Michie Monos – Graham Hams Rowing Officer Gerald Anderson Webmaster Mark Pierce LISA BLAIR, CIRCUMNAVIGATOR OF Training team AUSTRALIA AND ANTARCTICA, Graeme Turner GUEST SPEAKER AT THE CLUB ALL EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE TO: Lisa Blair sailed around Antarctica single handed and last year sailed [email protected] around Australia single handed. She will be presenting a talk at our club on the 14th Feb at 6.30pm. Cost will be $20 which will go towards supporting her next trip. Biography Lisa Blair THE FIRST WOMAN TO SAIL SOLO AROUND ANTARCTICA Whilst completing her Bachelor of Education and a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Southern Cross University, Lisa Blair secured a job as a hostess on a sailing boat in the Whitsundays on 2005. Once discovering sailing Lisa wanted to learn more and was inspired from books about solo sailors like Kay Cottee, Robin Knox-Johnston and Jessie Martin. Lisa decided to change her course in life and gather the skills to become a solo sailor herself. Lisa since clocked up more than 50 000 nautical miles of ocean sailing before embarking on her record making voyage. 1 Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478 After Circumnavigating the world in the Clipper 2011-12 Round the World Yacht Race Lisa went on to work for Alex Thomson Racing on their 60 foot racing yacht sponsored by Hugo Boss. She then acquired her RYA/ MCA Yacht Master Offshore, a Master Class 5 (Australian Skipper ticket) and her MED 3 (Marine Engineering). Lisa worked as skipper of the 68 foot long, Ex America’s Cup, Racing Yacht Southern Cross sailing around the Whitsunday Islands, in 2014 Lisa sailed twice across the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand SOLO clocking up almost 3 000 nm of solo sailing experience in preparation for her Antarctica record. Following that Lisa is a sailing instructor in Sydney, skipper of Ex-American Cup Yachts Sprit and Kookaburra and worked for Manly Fast Ferries. Lisa acquired her yacht in November 2015 – previously named Funnel-Web - and skippered it in the 2015 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. After 3.5 years of planning and gathering funds Lisa set off on January 22nd, 2017 from Albany in WA with the goal of becoming the first woman to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around Antarctica with the secondary goal of breaking the current record of 102 days held by Russia. 72 days into her solo voyage and ¾ the way around Antarctica Lisa suffered a dramatic and life threatening dismasting in storm conditions more than 1000nm from land. Lisa managed to save her yacht, was rendered fuel from a passing container ship, built a jury rig and motor sailed into Cape Town, SA. 2 months later Lisa re-started her voyage, crossed her track at the position of demasting and continued back to Australia. On July 25th Lisa made history and became the first woman to sail solo and unassisted around Antarctica with one stop. Lisa was awarded the Spirit of Adventure award by Australian Geographic and the Seamanship Award by the Ocean Cruising Club and finished off the year by partnering with The Magenta Project.org and leading the first all-female team in 16 years to race in the Rolex 2017 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race on board her yacht Climate Action Now. Lisa has now sailed over 70 000nm and turns her attention to finishing her first book titled Demasted which is to be published by Australian Geographic. Following an incredible year in 2017 Lisa set off in the New Year with the goal of becoming the first woman to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around Australia. Lisa succeeded on the 17th of December when she sailed into Sydney Harbour after facing down storms, drifting as she was becalmed, a near sinking and safely navigated around the many reefs and rocks. Lisa established a new record time of 58 Days, 2 hours, 25 minutes and 29 seconds. 2 Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478 Presentation Outline Australia Solo in 58 Days Topics: Motivation, Goal Setting, Resilience, Female empowering, Inspirational. Duration: 1 hour Audience: To be enjoyed by all ages and no sailing knowledge is required to enjoy. Lisa customises her presentations to meet audience requirements. Overview: In 2017 Lisa Blair became the first woman to sail solo around Antarctica with one stop. She suffered incredible storm conditions and a dramatic de-masting but not even a month after completing and surviving this she was already preparing her next adventure. Lisa aimed to become the first woman to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around Australia. Lisa has always seen a circumnavigation of Australia to be a much harder journey than Antarctica and a greater risk of failure. Lisa explains: “Sailing around Antarctica was mostly open water and once you could handle the storms it was just a process of ticking off the miles whereas with the Australia circumnavigation I am close to land almost the whole of the circumnavigation bringing with it challenges like increased traffic, reefs, rocks, changing weather influenced by land and extreme sleep deprivation, one mistake and I am on a reef or washed up on a beach and its game over”. Join us in enjoying a positive, empowering story of all the highs and lows of sailing solo around Australia in 58 Days including her almost sinking on her final run to the finish line. Feedback “Lisa’s is a captivating presenter. She delivered a real-life story of courage and resilience that left us inspired with the power of persistence to overcome obstacles and achieve your goals.” Steve Harris - CEO The Brand Agency “Lisa’s story is captivating. Firstly enthralling us with her dream and passion for her task at hand, then taking us on her journey of euphoria, tears, heartbreak and finally success. Lisa is an extraordinary lady with a big heart and special story to tell. Those that take the time to listen to her come out of with life lessons and are better people for it.” Domenic Genua – BIA Sydney International Boat Show 3 Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478 4 Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478 Race Reports for February 3rd Monohull Report (Mark Pierce) Des (impulse), Paul (NS) and Mark (Laser) had a very close race, at the rear end of the fleet, apart from the slower Pacers. Roy (RS Aero) was with us for a while, but pulled away to join the leaders. Paul eventually pipped Mark at the line, by just a few seconds - with a rapidly improving Des, just behind. Champ Graham Hams won convincingly. Greg (Laser), and Cameron (Impulse) had a close battle for 2nd place, with Greg eventually prevailing. Roy came in 4th. 5 Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478 With only 10 mins separating the first and last Mono, there was a feeling of elation amongst the slightly slower boats. Paul has spent most of the season, tweaking and taming, his NS Aero9 - with his hard work now paying off. Des came 4th, on yardstick, in this Championship race - proving the old saying that "practice makes perfect". Though not one of the slower boats, Greg Spencer's 3rd place in Laser "Bubbles" was a great performance. "Bubbles" is a very old Laser (recently rescued, for the cost of a few hundred bucks, from years lying, full of water, in a garden). She's called "Bubbles", because of the, very sizeable, bubbles in the glass on her deck. She's got a very old, baggy, sail, with virtually no on-the-water sail controls - and a tiller extension so short that any meaningful hiking is out of the question. Greg's placing goes to show that you don't need to spend mega-dollars on a boat, to perform well! Greg in ‘Bubbles’ Alter Ego, Raver and Hamin’ It Up 6 Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478 Pacer Report (Trent Morgan) The second rounding of the windward mark Pacer Trio Trent and Daisy arrived at the club to see Steffen and Reuben rigging ‘Jumpin’ Joie’ and thought this is great – another pacer! Not long before the launch it became apparent that ‘Penny Puffin’ was being rigged as well. Yes, a pacer series! As Trent and Daisy in ‘Puddleduck’ hugged the island trying to get out of the tide to arrive at the start it became apparent that getting to the start line on time was going to be tight. So tight that Trent and Daisy were hoping Ric would delay the start until they got there, ‘Shades’ was even behind ‘Puddleduck’, trying to get there. However to Trent’s dismay the cats were released on time, the monos took off and ‘Puddleduck’ ended up starting more than four minutes late. The race felt over before it had started for the ‘Puddleduck’ crew.