Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories
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Morgan Pinckney at the Harken and Bolle International Youth Match Racing Events
Harken Int'l Youth Match Racing Championship
Bolle Int'l Youth Match Racing Regatta
One of my friends, Max Brennan, asked if I wanted to come down to Australia to do some sailing with him. He had been studying down there for a couple of years and I hadn’t seen him in a while, so I gladly accepted. I had never been to Australia, so I was really excited.
The first event was the Harken International Youth Match Racing Championship in Pittwater out of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. When I arrived, I did not know what to expect. I was in a foreign country and I did not know anyone, except our crew of Max, NHYC member Jack Flores and LBYC’s Peter Sangmeister. Pittwater is also kind of in the middle of nowhere so it was not really what I expected, but it was really beautiful and looked like Jurassic Park with lots of greenery.
Our first practice day was breezy. We saw puffs of thirty knots and ended up fully broaching and losing our jib trimmer. Once we recovered, our bow guy who was a local said, “Come on mate we can’t broach in the light air.” I thought he was kidding, but I quickly learned the breeze is normally gusting in the mid 20s there. The first couple of days were great. We saw 20 knots and we were doing well. Going into the last day we were tied for first. Unfortunately, the forecast was a little “skits” (sketchy) as they would say. When we first went out it was gusting in the mid 30’s. The race committee decided to finish the round robin and then decide if we could go into a final four. Going into the last race of the round robin, if we won, we would win the regatta, but if we lost, we would lose a three way tiebreaker and get third. That is, if they didn’t go into a final four. Off the start we were golden - we had the lead and a penalty on the other boat. On the last beat we hit a 10 foot long jellyfish and stopped. It had been impaled by the bottom of our keel and we could not get it off. This resulted in a loss and a very unfortunate third place finish.
I got over it pretty quickly because that first week of racing in Pittwater had been the best week of my life. I had made a handful of new Australians friends, experienced phenomenal sailing, and got to meet some fascinating sailors from around the world. Now it was time to drive down to Sydney's Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and race the Bolle International Youth Match Racing Regatta. During the Bolle we had much lighter conditions, but still lots of good racing.
The coolest part was the beer can racing on big boats almost every night after match racing. The sailing culture down there is incredible. Every night almost 100 boats would get on the line and do some racing. I mostly raced on Kerr 40s and TP52’s, and was invited to do everything from tactics to bow. It was truly an incredible experience. The only thing that I missed out on is the rest of our crew somehow snuck onto Andoo Comanche and won one of the nights. I missed out because I had already committed to racing on the Gweilo.
Aside from the big boat racing, our small boat racing was not going too well. We were doing everything fine, but we would miss one shift or penalty call and lose a race. We finished 5th. I don’t think anyone on our team, though, was really expecting podium finishes when we first got there. Most importantly we had the experience, and a taste of the True Blue culture. I had adventures that I will remember for the rest of my life. I also crammed more sailing into two weeks than I even knew was possible. I have already planned to do these events next year, and am looking forward to it! Thank you so much to the NHSF for helping to support my sailing down under.
Match Racing in Australia
Match Racing in Australia
Match Racing in Australia
Match Racing in Australia