…the people you meet and race against…
The reflections below, from Michael Spies were first published in Sailing Anarchy last week. Michael is renowned as a highly competitive and successful racing sailor, and that’s what fascinated me about his observations. Despite (or perhaps because of) all his achievements and connections, it now seems that a sailing community is what he enjoys the most. Sound familiar?
Thanks to Michael and Scott Tempesta from Sailing Anarchy for allowing us to reproduce the sentiments.
Having raced with and against our illustrious editor and gotten to know him socially, I was intrigued about his recent decision to ‘ Out Himself’ ‘ about his retirement from competitive sailing. Being a similar age his decision got me thinking about my own competitive mortality and priorities which was further highlighted by the fact of unexpectedly losing four close friends in as many weeks.
Having enjoyed an absolutely fantastic International Yachting career fortunately mixed with a fair degree of competitive success I too have realized my values and priorities have also been changing over recent years from one of win or at least being most competitive at all costs, to now realising there is a lot of merit and previously unrealized enjoyment in just competing and participating in lower profile events. I think this subliminal transition started during Covid lockdowns where we went from doing about 10 major International Regattas or major long ocean races a year to finding myself landlocked in Australia restoring a few historic significant dinghies to their former glory.
With COVID starting to wind down and solo sailing one of the few non-essential sporting activities that were legally allowed saw me on the water with my restored Scow Moths. This morphed into racing them against like-minded enthusiasts when Covid restrictions were further lifted in some out-of-the-way lakes and dams where winning wasn’t as important as just being around like-minded new friends and an array of beautifully restored boats.
Never being a gym junkie but always keeping fit and relevant with physical activities I found myself again doing more and more dinghy racing to keep fit. With my competitive skiff days with their physical and maintenance requirements behind me, I opted to buy an NS14, a 2 handed non-spinnaker class originally conceptualised by Frank Bethwaite over 60 years ago. As a development class with an array of hull shapes that pioneered the development of wing masts their DNA sparked the development of the Taser and the subsequent 9er range of boats from the Bethwaite design studio.
They are like a little well-balanced sports car. Fast, precise, balanced, technical, not too physical, low maintenance, affordable, and very rewarding to sail.
While I still race them in class at a National level and find myself still competitive on my day my biggest enjoyment is getting on the road with my camper trailer in tow and the boat on the roof heading to do a mixed fleet regional regatta on a lake, dam, or river.
Back to basics with great local volunteers providing efficient race management and the ladies auxiliary making great afternoon teas and post-race meals. Everyone camps and the comradiary around the fire pits where your fellow punters attempt to sort out the world’s problems over an increasing array of beers and red wines!
This weekend saw us racing on Wivenhoe Dam which is a flooded valley village that now is the major water supply for Brisbane. Hosted by Brisbane Valley Sailing Club with a total of only 14 passionate members their Winter Marathon is their marquee annual event that keeps the clubs coffers sustainable.
Despite the lack of breeze for the mixture of 50-odd mixed mono and multihulls most competitors were already talking about next year’s regatta. It’s been a while coming but I’m finally realising Regattas are not necessarily about the glamorous and high-end boats they are about the people you meet and race against on the way through. – Michal Spies.