True Amateurs Spirit
The Delivery of ANITRA V from Tasmania- by Philip Brown
ANITRA V winning the Sydney to Hobart race in 1957
The Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart has been a great excuse for a Summer cruise to Tasmania in January every two years for the last decade. However border closures for the COVID pandemic meant cancellation of the 2021 AWBF. Thus it seemed almost imperative that we should take ANITRA V south for the 2023 event. I had participated in each AWBF since 2013 and sailed on various Amateurs boats for the event. In 2013 on MISTER CHRISTIAN with Ben Gray, in 2015 on LAHARA with Mike Warner and 2019 on LORITA MARIA with Greg Barrel. The last time I had taken ANITRA V to the AWBF was in 2017. This year we departed Mosman Bay on 21 January with a plan for a leisurely trip of day sailing to Twofold Bay with a crew of four onboard. In Eden we had a partial crew change organised and then with a crew of five we sailed across Bass Strait to Eddystone Point with a week of Tassie cruising before moving the boat up from Kettering to Hobart to participate in the 2023 AWBF. We arrived in Kettering as planned with two days to spare before going up to Hobart for the Festival. The trip to Tasmania is always an adventure so there was plenty of anticipation, boat preparation and planning for this next trip including arranging items not normally onboard — satphone simcard and liferaft. After the Festival I had planned some cruising in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel then a return run up the West Coast, including visits to Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour.
Two boats from Victoria — WESTWIND and KINGURRA—were planning the same trip so we had hoped to join them up the west coast if the weather window permitted. In 2017 we took ANITRA V around South West Cape up to Port Davey then into Bathurst Harbour for a stay at Claytons Corner but returned to Kermandie on the Huon. After some enjoyable weeks including participating in the three-day Cygnet Regatta we eventually sailed from Kermandie down through the D’Entrecasteaux Channel around Tasman Head and Tasman Island then up the Tasmanian east coast, finally departing from Wineglass Bay with a non-stop run back to Sydney two handed. However I had a sudden intervention in the 2023 plans on the Thursday evening immediately prior to the start of AWBF. After sailing ANITRA V up from Kettering in a pleasant nor’east breeze that afternoon we put her into our allocated berth at Sullivan Cove behind GRETEL II to be ready for the Festival over the next four days. Along with a couple of other early arrival crews we joined Chris Dicker on his Westwind for an early evening beer before a fish dinner at Muers — both a treat as usual when arriving in Hobart.
Philip Brown back at the helm of ANITRA V during the winter race on 22 July- Photo Geraldine Wilkes
During the night I suffered a stroke which landed me in Royal Hobart Hospital Emergency by ambulance from the dockside. My crew Vickki Lincoln came with me in the ambulance which was a great comfort to me. Being excluded from the Emergency section she waited some hours until after my numerous requests they let her into Emergency at about 0400. She stayed with me in the hospital until that afternoon and was a huge support. I was not in good shape so in those circumstances it was wonderful to have her as my spokesperson by my side. That overnight episode decisively spoiled my involvement in the Festival. My left arm was disabled and paralysed left vocal chord had damaged my voice, although I could still make myself understood. However, fortunately, my left leg was unaffected by the hemiplegia so I could walk and was sufficiently recovered by the Sunday afternoon to be granted supervised “Hospital Leave” for a few hours. With my bung arm in a sling I was collected and signed out by my crewmates Vickki and Stephen Cavanagh to visit ANITRA V on the dock. I was able to enjoy a bit of Festival participation and saw lots of friends who visited us onboard that afternoon.
Unfortunately during the afternoon RHH had gone into “lock down” with a COVID outbreak in the ward. On return I was moved to a “Negative” ward but despite having had four vaccinations I still contracted COVID with significant symptoms and spent the next two weeks in isolation in RHH as a “Positive” recovering from both the stroke and COVID. With my arm useless and my balance compromised I was clearly not going to be able to sail ANITRA V for some months — especially offshore. That left the immediate dilemma of where to take the boat after the Festival and then how to get the boat back to Sydney. However the Amateurs spirit of mateship support quickly emerged to assist along with usual fantastic Tasmanian hospitality. The Festival was winding up on Monday afternoon so ANITRA V had to be moved out of the Sullivan Cove Marina on Tuesday as the marina is only temporarily vacated by the regular occupants for the Festival. Soon identified and organised by crewmate Stephen, Tasmanian hospitality came to the fore in the form of a complimentary MAST berth on the other side of Sullivan Cove which was available until the following Saturday.
Stephen also started canvassing options amongst the locals for a delivery skipper and crew to get the boat back to Sydney. Some possibilities emerged but nothing that was going to be really suitable or easily arranged. Word of my health problem had spread amongst the Amateurs fraternity as many Amateurs members had attended the Festival and I had seen some of them briefly during my Sunday afternoon visit. Fortunately Stephen and Vickki were able to stay onboard in Hobart as caretakers for a few more days after the Festival but after they had gone my Hobart support looked like it was going to drop away. Chris Oh, long time Amateurs friend, Tasmanian resident and Amateurs Life Member, contacted me in hospital within days and offered to assist with anything I needed and an offer to move the boat to another marina. Next I received an email from Bruce Dover with a very generous offer to arrange an Amateurs crew to sail ANITRA V back to Mosman Bay. The supportive spirit of the Amateurs was overwhelming as I sat in RHH locked in my COVID isolation room. Chris and a local friend took over ANITRA V on Saturday taking her down to the Oyster Cove Marina in Kettering whilst Vickki and Stephen flew back to Sydney. Two weeks later on my discharge from RHH Chris continued his fantastic support by collecting me from hospital and taking me to his house down at Middleton on the D’Entrecasteaux shoreline.
I stayed overnight and had the best night’s sleep in Chris’s house since before leaving ANITRA V on the dock. I felt much better having finally got out of the hospital and having had a quiet afternoon walk along the Channel shoreline near Chris’s house. The following day Chris drove me to the airport. I flew back to Canberra via Sydney where my wife collected me for the drive home to Young. Vickki, Stephen and Chris had all been fantastic in their support to me in Hobart and had made a huge contribution to dealing with what otherwise could have been a difficult set of circumstances. Bruce arranged his team of Trevor Cosh, Herschel Smith and my crew Vickki to deliver ANITRA V back to Mosman Bay. Devoting 10 days to the venture they flew to Hobart after Easter to prepare the boat for the return voyage. Chris Oh once again acted as Tasmanian host and with his wife Trish provided hospitality and great support with use of his ute and his boat (in the same marina) as a bunk-boat until ANITRA V was thoroughly checked, reorganised and stocked up ready for the trip home.
Almost exactly three months after we had left Sydney, on 22 April I stood on Georges Head to watch ANITRA V sail back through the Heads after a voyage of seven days from Kettering. It was an emotional moment to see my boat returning to Sydney and I truly appreciated the significance of the Amateurs support which I had been granted.
Their voyage had included a stop at anchor north of Schouten Passage to wait out a strong northerly, and an R&R night in the new marina at Shell Harbour before the last day’s run up to Sydney. Bruce and his crew had chosen the weather window well, which made for a good fast reach across Bass Strait in a westerly to Twofold Bay for a fuel top up, having departed Tasmania from the Freycinet Peninsula. After Eden they had light conditions up the NSW south coast which involved some motor sailing to keep up the pace. Although sailed in mostly light to moderate conditions their trip was not without the usual adventure. Bruce reported that, departing Storm Bay, they had an exciting passage through the “hole in the wall” between Tasman Island and Cap Pillar.
Sailing in relatively light northerly wind conditions down from the Derwent with No.1 headsail and full main they had not anticipated the 25+ knot sou’westerly which suddenly sprang up (as they do down there) just as they approached Tasman Island. Being a bit over-canvassed — even for stiff old ANITRA V — but with no time to change headsails, reef or go south around Tasman Island they had a fast and sometimes surfing downwind run through the narrow gap behind Tasman Island. For those not familiar with Tasman Island it rises almost vertically 1,000 feet from sea level and can produce katabatic (downward) winds in the passage between the island and the mainland. In the middle of the passage the underwater “land bridge” means that the water depth goes from 50m outside to just 8 m in the middle producing short steep waves of increased height.
The sou’westerly took them all the way up to Schouten Island via the Mercury Passage inside Maria Island in time for a two-night stay at anchor at Bryans Corner whilst a strong northerly front blew through. With ANITRA V back in Mosman Bay and sufficiently recovered with partial use of my left arm, I spent a few days onboard at the Green Shed packing away cruising sails and reorganising the boat and gear for harbour sailing. Chris Oh had freighted a wooden box of gear, deemed surplus for the delivery, which Vickki and her husband Stuart collected for me from the freight depot at Smithfield. With assistance of my Sydney crew we put the boat back on her mooring in Mosman Bay on Anzac Day. The Tasmanian Summer Cruise adventure was completed — with the support of my Amateurs friends — even if not as planned. My greatest thanks go to all who helped me in my hour of need but particularly to my crewmates Vickki and Stephen, to Chris Oh and to Bruce, Trevor and Herschel who, with Vickki, stepped up with 10 days of their time to bring Anitra home. To be a member of the Amateurs is truly a privilege.
1961 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race start. Rival (M2), Kintail (16), Silhouette (MH64), Sea Bee (CYC32), Sylvena (18), Joanne Brodie (2) & Anitra V - - CYCA Archives Photo Norman Danvers Photgraphy
This article first appeared in the Newsletter of the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club