Jervis Bay

I actually decided to go on a sailing club weekend, after having been totally over them for a while. It was a small one with about 18 which is always great, you can actually meet everyone and learn about them 🙂

Unigames the Third

How many people get to go to three of these things? Not many, that’s who. We got bronze again, after UWA (standard) and USA (newcomers). We could have beaten USA – shitty umpiring – but shitty umpiring is part of teams racing at most levels and you just have to accept that over multiple regattas it will even out. IMO we were lucky to beat Melbourne to make the top 3, they were very strong, so really it all worked out. There were 11 teams so almost double last year, which was awesome. It’s like doing a real sport!

Team drama? yes, can’t have AUGs without drama. But not as bad as some teams, or even us last year. We had a weight issue – we were always going to be very light, so prior to our first weigh in, I sculled nearly 2 litres of water. Aaaand weighed in at 58 which is what I was normally! Based off everyone’s results it seemed that the scales were about 2kg off. Towards the end of the regatta, some of the boys were playing around and found that if you stood at the very front of the scales, they read correctly. Too late!

If you’ve never force drunk water, it’s not fun, especially when the Adelaide water doesn’t taste very good! Our team drank a lot, one crew just to be allowed to sail – the officials decided to enforce the rule that more than 10kg under is not allowed. Oh, and they made everyone wear shorts to weigh in. It’s one thing making people take their phones and wallets out of their pockets, but a lot of us actually wore jeans that day as it was quite cool, so we were all running around swapping shorts with each other. Like…. your scales read low. You must know this. How about not also being ridiculous?

Anyway…. this is the sort of riveting thing that goes on at a sailing regatta!

The best thing that actually happened at the club was the pie floater contest. The canteen & volunteer ladies were really lovely and when we had a few hours break with no wind, they cracked out the South Australian specialty. It’s basically a meat pie floating in a bowl of mashed peas/pea soup. Not a bad thing to eat, slowly, when you’re hungry. To eat very fast, after drinking heavily for several nights in a row? Let’s just say it was too much for some. I think NSW won, in a team effort after the first eater sprinted off to find a bin.

There were no photos taken because people were too busy having fun, which is kinda awesome.

The rest of the week was just sailing and hitting the nightlife of Adelaide – every night this time. It’s better than it sounds. We didn’t get a lot of sleep between getting home at 3 and being at the sailing club at 8am, this is where teams racing is very relaxing as you just sleep between races 🙂

I had serious post unigames depression for a week or two, glad it’s cleared up now. Hopefully, I will get to go on exchange next year and this will be my last AUGs. If not, going to number 4 would make up approximately 5% of my disappointment at not doing exchange! My dream would be to play rugby 7s and be a reserve for sailing, but they haven’t had girls 7s for the last couple of years owing to lack of entrants. The whole Olympic thing is meant to be making it more popular so…. you never know.

sun, moon and stars brother, all sweet things

This is a big post with photos for your more extra enjoyment.

Problem-resolution

Well that only took another 20 hours to sort out 😦 during which I had 3 hours sleep from staying up waiting for emails – you know when you’re just too tired to appreciate that it can wait for the morning? And how the time seems to go so fast after midnight?

yachting, school and Mongolia, of course

I haven’t been on a boat for 3 weeks which feels so long, and the yacht probably for 2-3 months…. I have been delaying trying out a new boat for the Winter Series as I feel too busy to commit to one, but a friend asked me to fill in on L’Altra Donna this weekend so I’m going to do that. They have had some good results, but not in this series so far so we will see.

Last Friday we had a 5-year reunion at one of my schools – not where I finished but I spent 8 years there so it felt natural to go. They took us on a tour of one of the new shiny buildings since we were there and then had drinks in the foyer. Everyone seemed very tall and gorgeous, of course they were generally wearing heels and were very carefully made-up. I was only carefully dressed and felt rather good about myself walking around engineering during the day, but shabby next to these girls. Maybe more of the trophy-wife contingent turned up…. (about half our grade were there).

New fancy banners. My house is in the middle.

The new principal spoke and seemed like an improvement on the one when I finished, who was borderline incompetent and took the school in a conservative Christian direction where they had been considered somewhat educationally innovative before (and very innovative in the Junior school – eg. myself and J skipping two grades). The new direction seems to be upmarket – Latin and rowing have been introduced – and fair enough, the infrastructure is certainly there. It’s such a contrast to Sydney Girls where we had 2 buildings – a multi-purpose hall and a class building – for 900 girls, or about as many as at my whole old school with about 10. Oh and at my old school only school blazers, not school jumpers, were acceptable to wear off the grounds. To go to a school where the tie was optional and could be worn (to quite a smart effect) with the knot at the sternum below your undone buttons…. it was quite a shock! And girls without their hair tied up… anyway I don’t think I will ever be nostalgic for school and especially that one.

What a fantastically progressive slogan for a house at a girl’s school.

I got to talking with one of my old friends about her younger brother, when I left he was 12 and just a standard ugly little midget, she showed me photos of him now and my goodness, he is tall and fit. On the Scots rowing team (and rugby) which apparently involves sleeping at the rowing shed 3 nights a week. She summarized it as all rather Little Lord Fauntleroy. I ended up having pizza with these girls – the nerd group I was in – while the other girls all went off to the pub. I could have made that statement – I am not that fond of my old group – but, you know what, I am also not that fond of anyone else and at the end of a day it’s a dodgy pub, and any talent that might have been in there would have been covered with my beautiful classmates.

We got 32-nil at Waverley on Saturday. I wasn’t on for very long again (seems like old players are trickling back in) and the extent of my involvement would be ‘definitely involved in a ruck and possibly ran in support a couple times’. Someone like Cas just doesn’t need to call on support, people who tackle her come off worse! Apparently she has been a Wallaroo’s prop I learn today…. My fellow winger Theo scored a try, that was cool, she was a bit dropsy in the last game and started on the bench.

I have the car this week because Mum’s in Mongolia doing some special project. With a very small contingent, to be joined on the weekend by the Governor of NSW Marie Bashir who apparently has some sort of Mongolia obsession? Anyway she got to have lunch at Kirribilli House I think so that’s what you get for catering to important people’s obsessions. Hearing about the health system in Mongolia has been very interesting but I’ll save it for later.

everything else that has happened

I have saved my exhaustive rugby writeups for myself coz I’m sure they are boring, but in brief we did heaps of contact skills and rucking games on Tuesday and I won’t lie, really enjoyed it. Thursday I had a bit of an emotional moment after dropping one too many passes and got special coaching from both our amazing team mums/assistant coaches/former Wallaroos (national side). They were really sweet – you’re on the team now and we won’t let you down etc. I got better and joined in on the pattern work as a back rower, I don’t know if I will be there for the game but it was pretty fun because you get to run around with your own little forward pod (pretending to) clear out. Just easier for me to know where to go if I get to follow our no 8 all the time! Unlike the other week, we were slightly short of forwards.

We went to the pub afterwards, they sponsor us so we have to try and go but it’s not exactly an imposition when they give us cheap meals as well. Don’t know if I will keep doing that though as I end up home 10pm at the earliest and Dad I know would often prefer to go to bed by then.

Speaking of which, first game tomorrow and I’m up late, terrible!

And the last thing – we had our AGM and I have officially resigned my presidency and can try to stop worrying about everything! Such a relief, I might even go on our next trip knowing I am not fully responsible and have a good time. Two of the racing team signed up for positions which is excellent and great to see the engagement finally happening. All in all the club is in a good state and I am proud to hand it over as such.

I wrote to my old youth squad casually enquiring about yachts looking for crew, not sure if they would even want to help me since I’ve left, and got a whole list of good boats who are apparently keen for sailors. I have too much uni work to do this weekend but next Sunday I will give one of them a try – a TP52, not a quick one but probably doing Hobart.

Dessert at Bistro Ortolan. It is on fire 🙂 Delicious.

Aaaand (I guess it’s been a big week) it was a quick AGM because I had to get to mum’s book launch which went very well. We went out for dinner afterwards – degustation menu at Bistro Ortolan – these things seem to be getting more frequent in my life which is rather bizarre. This time it was 8 mains, 3 desserts and cheese! We didn’t go for the wine flight (what a name) this time, thank god. I was feeling ill just after all the food – the petits fours were hovering on the edge of pleasure and pain – but it was amazing.

State Teams Racing

Over the weekend we did a big sailing regatta – state teams racing championships – and came second. Going to skip shorten writeup by linking to one of my team’s blog http://jessicawritesatravelblog.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/states-regatta.html There are a couple of very cute photos of the team on Facebook as well. Last year I forgot to get a team photo (we had 18 sailors!) and was very annoyed so yay.

just rugby & sailing problems

No practice in the end last week, I was pretty sad. By this Tuesday it had thankfully dried out enough to go out.

let’s just say a lot of stuff happened

On Thursday I went to rugby practice. If this does not sound interesting then skip the rest 🙂

I always have a lot to write about sailing, and also photo post

Last weekend was also the 29erxx regatta – sort of show event for the Bethwaites to promote the class – there was one girl who already has her own xx but the others were supplied. Apparently they are shit boats to sail, mainly that they have a lot of righting moment potential from the big sail, two on the wire, but in a lull it’s hard to keep the boat from going to windward without getting to the other side of the boom somehow. On a boat with wings like the 49er you have that much more distance to just walk in to reduce your moment. They also had a 49erFX out there which seems like a more viable proposition and I’d love to try it.

On Friday we did the Property Industry Foundation Regatta, which is a charity thing our skipper volunteered his boat (and us) to do. The property companies pay about $1000 a head for their guys to go out on boats, which then goes to helping homeless children (and maybe some for the party at the end). We had 7 on our boat so quality charity work if you look at it as your own contribution of 7k!

Far right is our yacht - I know they aren't exactly closeups but we rarely get photographed at all.

A lot of boats had the wrong course onboard (and are apparently incapable of listening to the radio, but hey it was a social day) and kept skipping marks, it was a bit mayhem. Our second rounding of Shark Island, Lahana came through at the most incredible speed I have ever seen a yacht doing up close. Guessing 15 knots, generating a lot of spray, she and Wild Oats opted to dive inside everyone at the island rounding – could have resulted in some rules incidents if they didn’t make it! We guessed that we came first in our division but weren’t sure with the wrong course boats and everything – just got an email saying we came first in division, and won the regatta overall! There were 70 boats including the aforementioned maxis – a lot more than I expected. How’s that for a beautiful Friday afternoon’s sailing.

thought it was us in the middle but it's not, probably us on the far right though only have tiny clues

The corporates turned up with little banners they hung all over the rails – terrible windage – and 2.5 cases of beer which really had us worried they would try and drink 10 each. We made them wait until the first downwind leg, then they put away 3 over the leg and just kept going from there, no-one fell off thankfully. We consummate professionals wait until after the race, and also got to take home 6 they left behind…. it was a big day for beer once I had watched the rugby with Dad and Boy as well. I would love to play rugby, they just look so ridiculously fit and confident out there, but I don’t know when that will ever happen in my life. And most of the women’s teams are a little bigger than me.

Tomorrow is club racing and today I was meant to be coaching juniors at WSC – turned out they told me the wrong weekend – so I walked back to our Bondi Junction house, it was such a beautiful day I wanted to be outside rather than catching the bus. Didn’t take any shoes but my sailing boots to wear though! – and some heels for a party tonight which would have been worse. It is amazingly crisp, sunny, clear and a light wind, the most beautiful Sydney weather. The end of an early morning run this week:

I lost my post while editing it…. bugger. Oh well this is vegetarian society lunch, or, my university is more hipster than yours. I also went to Hermann’s with the Philosophy Society. They were having a committee stoush over certain people making decisions, use of emails, etc trivial things. It was heartening in light of the sailing club having occasional differences when we run a way, way more complicated operation. Though a little bit of drama can be good for a committee, the emotional arousal probably gets their subconscious to think the club is more important in their life than it was before.

The rest of my post said that the builders have come and started tearing up the kitchen. We got very tired last week moving everything out, and then they turned up and said we didn’t have to yet – fairly annoying – the ‘kitchen guy’ won’t be ready with the new one for a few weeks so they are going to lay the floor first and apparently leave the dishwasher and oven in situ for most of that. Mostly the interior designer’s fault, he doesn’t seem to be as good a project manager.

Now I have two assignments due on Monday and have spent way too much time writing, but when so many of you (ha) check it so often, I am motivated to write stuff, so it’s your fault. I have to do a lot of assessments alone or do more while everyone else is doing groupwork because of my stupid ‘masters’ degree so I’m a bit snowed under at the moment. But I have met some of the other masters students and even did the FOB thing and took pictures of one of their books the other day. Picture is our lab last week, none of these pissy little test tube experiments for us, it’s all about shattering large concrete things. Exciting. Time for me to work. Reinforced concrete is hard – or our lecturer is crap – mostly the latter I suspect.