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No doubt this tale, told by Yachting New Zealand’s Safety and Technical Officer, Angus Willison, will have ‘ring true’ to sailing parents across the nation. It’s all about his daughter Celia’s first encounter with New Zealand’s largest coastal sailing race – the PIC Coastal Classic.
When the txt messages from our 17 year old daughter were becoming sporadic during Labour Weekend we knew that something was going on that she didn’t want us to know about.
Celia joined the RNZYS Youth Training Programme (YTP) this year and has absolutely loved the whole scene. A tough inclusive culture has suited her and she has found the intensity of the sailing incredibly stimulating. Being part of the team racing on the Pittwater for the Australian National Women’s Match Racing Regatta was a fantastic experience as was the regatta with most of the same crew in Wellington at RPNYC less than 36 hours after arriving home. Not only is the sailing full on she is also immersed in maintaining the Elliot 7s under the watchful eye of Guy Pilkington.
When the opportunity came up to join one of Auckland’s glamour 50 footers, ‘Ran Tan’, for this years’ PIC Coastal Classic she was so excited. When the weather forecast settled I thought to myself that it would be interesting to see whether she likes it.
Parents, grandparents and interested parties tracked the boats up the coast and were pleased to see that it was close racing for Ran Tan right to the finish. The ‘I’m here’ txt came through and then it all went quiet. Mmmm, I thought, I wonder whether the phone (or should I say device) battery was flat or whether something was cooking. The ‘it’s a bad reception area’ txt followed a bit later and then I knew that something was cooking.
A bedraggled girl arrived in the door on Monday afternoon with a story to tell. Ran Tan had finished in the early hours of Saturday morning and the obligatory celebrations commenced. A few hours later the boat headed back to Auckland with a smaller delivery crew and with the potential for some good sailing. Descriptions of surfing along at 16 knots canting the keel to keep the boat straight left me wondering whether it was such a good idea to have a 17 year old on the handle bars however I guess what I didn’t know didn’t worry me!
Arriving back in Auckland in the early hours of Sunday morning a number of the YTP sailors jumped in a vehicle back to Russell to join ‘Lawless’ for the trip south. They were in Kawakawa well before the Opua ferry started so the back road to Russell was driven which I think was an eye opener to relatively inexperienced drivers and certainly didn’t please a concerned mother. On board and back out of the Bay to head to Auckland, this time I think that there was some diesel burnt.
Over 350 NM sailed in 3 ½ days, little sleep and arguably a risky drive in the middle of the night left us wondering what the front page of the Herald would have looked like if it had all come ‘unstuck’. We put Celia on a sailing boat for the best part of 5 years from the age of 7 sailing over 20,000 NM offshore in all different conditions from the equator to 50 degrees south so what did we expect in the long run? I am not aware of any calamities and am pleased to see these sailors out there getting on with it. I understand that if they had asked permission any right minded parent would have said ‘hold on a minute’ so I guess that all’s well that ends well.
