Alice In Wonderland As Blue-water Crew Up The Creek
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday December 19, 1996
Of all the training regimes developed by Sydney-to-Hobart race crews, none can be as surreal as those of the Alice Springs Yacht Club.
Defying their land-locked and perpetually sun-baked environment, 18 sailing desperates from two crews have been flying spinnakers out of trees and practising tacking manoeuvres up a dry riverbed in preparation for this year's Sydney to Hobart.
The ASYC's Sydney-to- Hobart project began almost 18 months ago after two abortive efforts by club members in 1993-94 to complete the annual 630-nautical-mile race.
Both times rigging failure forced the Territorians to retire before they'd reached Hobart, so a plan for a further challenge was devised with the aim of "completing unfinished business".
ASYC commodore Paul Herrick said the 1996 campaign was far more professional than in previous years.
Extensive fundraising has been held among the Alice Springs community non-stop since last Christmas. It has allowed the club to charter two Jeanneau 36-footers from the Sydney company Sunsail for the race and pay for caravan park accommodation and eating expenses for the two sailing crews and two ground managers while they're away from home.
Determined that the ASYC's Sydney-to-Hobart entries, Spirit of The Alice and The Alice, would be a community-driven affair, the club offered $100 sponsorship packages to local families and small businesses.
All those who donated have had their names painted onto Spirit of The Alice.
The club's quest for corporate sponsorship also took on a distinctly Territorian flavour.
"We sold 30 sponsorship packages of $1,000 to Alice Springs companies and, as we're wont to do up here, we had a gamble on it," said Herrick. "We put all the companies' names into a hat and we got the mayor to draw one out." The winner had received naming-rights sponsorship on the hull and spinnaker of The Alice.
Herrick, who is skippering Spirit of The Alice, said all of the ASYC crew members were experienced in off-shore sailing, although not all had raced.
They are a diverse lot. One, Shaun Furniss, is a police officer based at Hart's Range, 250km north-east of Alice Springs in the Simpson Desert. Herrick is the local fire chief and Bob Barford is the lead singer of a country band called Bloodwood.
The Territorians arrived in Sydney on Sunday and spent Monday attaching decals on the two Jeanneaus, transforming them into ASYC yachts.
The crews have only a week on the water to sharpen up rusty sailing and racing skills before the Sydney-Hobart gets under way on December 26.
Understandably, their goals in the race are modest - to get safely to Hobart and to do as well as they can in their IMS (International Measurement System) class.
There may, of course, be a few side wagers on which of the identical Jeanneaus arrives first at Constitution Dock.
Herrick said the main thing was the campaign had been a team effort from day one.
"There's a lot of friendly rivalry, but we're all helping each other. It's a Territory effort. I think just about everyone has chipped in from Alice Springs," he said.
© 1996 Sydney Morning Herald
