Well today dawned cool near 20C and rain. Lots of rain. More boat prep, replaced broken bits, sorted the ditch bag, replaced the top instrument display on the mast, tuned the rig from top to bottom (these Aussie’s know their stuff) then went for a tune-up sail with Joe, me, Casey and the yard manager David, his daughter-in-law (who stripped and organized the boat and delivered it from Newcastle), and the riggers. Sydney Harbour is a series of interconnected waterways and hugely busy with traffic control zones and a ton of ferries, tugs, ships, navy and pleasure boats. A couple of 100ft sleds were out practicing too and boy, not so much fun in cool air (you could see your breath) and driving rain. But it was successful and the rig will be further tuned tomorrow by shortening the forestay a bit. All good.
Perhaps the most fun of the day was starting out with our fearless leader Giuseppe at his press conference. As you all know Joe you can only imagine the performance. He was onstage with the other away teams from Korea, Sweden and Hong Kong. Lots of laughs as Joe explained some of the origin of the TL name but not quite the full story. It was a blast… Click here for some of it…
From a poster at the YC. Rounding the Heads on the way out of harbour.
What heavy weather really looks like, from the 2013 race.
TL In lower right of graving dock. Beau Geste visible further away…
Goofing off at the interview with the famous Captain America
Rain lets up briefly as we drive by the iconic opera house.
Scallywag, the old Ragamuffin practicing. Still looks good to me…