RQYS Mainsheet 2021

Women on Water (WoW!)

FEATURE

“I like winning but I’m not really THAT competitive …” Victoria admits, also admitting to a cautiously healthy degree of apprehension about the 2021 Hobart in late November. “Yes, I’m a little bit nervous but we have a really experienced crew,” she said. “Five of our eight have done SYD-HBA before and every single crew member has done ocean racing.” Having bought ‘Huntress’ sight unseen during COVID-2020, they put her to the test in a Launceston–Hobart race last year and fell in love all over again.

The longer-term goal is to sail the 2025 two-handed Melbourne–Osaka race; nearer time it’s the BYC Crown Series down south in February 2022. “That’s why getting to Hobart would be so special,” Victoria says, “Mum and Dad would be out on their boat on the Derwent to meet us – and trying to keep up with us as long as possible on the home stretch.”

Initial intention was to crew someone else’s boat for the 2021 Hobart, said Victoria “but ‘Huntress’ has turned out to be just perfect” and preparations were amended accordingly. “We were hoping, hoping, hoping to do the Sydney-Gold Coast first,” said Brent, but interstate border closures put paid to that event so instead they were just back from “two weeks of doing very little at Lady Musgrave.” Quietly professional, though, the couple remains intent on “learning this boat fully crewed” in coming months.

FEATURE • WoW!

Mainsheet 2021

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