Nautical phrases today as it’s Race Week:

• A shot across the bows - ’A shot across the bows’ derives from the naval practice of firing a cannon shot across the bows of an opponent’s ship to show them that you are prepared to do battle.
• Three sheets to the wind – very drunk. Sailors at that time had a sliding scale of drunkenness; three sheets was the falling over stage; tipsy was just ‘one sheet in the wind’, or ‘a sheet in the wind’s eye’.
• By and large - On the whole; generally speaking; all things considered. To get a sense of the original meaning of the phrase we need to understand the nautical terms ‘by’ and ‘large’. ‘Large’ is easier, so we’ll start there. When the wind is blowing from some compass point behind a ship’s direction of travel then it is said to be ‘large’. ’By’ is a rather more difficult concept for landlubbers like me. In simplified terms it means ‘in the general direction of’. Sailors would say to be ‘by the wind’ is to face into the wind or within six compass points of it.

Location: Hamilton Island

Weather: Little fluffy clouds, blue skies, not enough wind but 26°c

After months of hearing it talked about the best week on Hamilton Island is finally here…IT’S RACE WEEK!

Four years ago building work commenced on the site of the new Hamilton Island Yacht Club and I was very honoured to be there at the official opening last night in the presence of the owner Bob Oatley and the Premier of Queensland Anna Bligh.

The new Hamilton Island Yacht Club

On what was once a rocky and muddy entrance to the marina, now sits what must be one of the finest yacht clubs anywhere in the world – something that will adorn the pages of many an in-flight magazine for years to come. The architect Walta Barda was given a blank page and asked to create something unique which would reflect the boating and marine lifestyle which it would become an integral part of and the result is this.

Now I’ve flown over it and sailed past it a fair few times since arriving on the island and it wasn’t until I actually got down to see it at ground level that I realised quite what a spectacular building it is appearing as a cross between Sydney’s Opera House and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

The evening’s opening night was attended by 500 people with the official cracking of the champagne on the bow-like spit by Anna Bligh the Premier who gave Tourism Queensland, the Best Job campaign and even me a mention during her speech. Mum and Dad would have been so proud if they’d have heard it!

With the Premier Anna Bligh

I had to dash away from proceedings for half an hour to meet Amanda Fitzgerald, the weather presenter from Channel Ten, as we were co-presenting her five minute slot together! (another job for the Island Caretaker) Brilliant fun – arrive panting from the run, have a script thrust in my hand, practice saying ‘Toowoomba’ a few times and….we’re live to air!

Presenting the weather with Amanda, Channel 10

‘Sydney 17, Brisbane 24 with temperatures increasing steadily next week’ – oh what fun but over far too quickly and then back to the opening party for more introductions and socialising.

Day One out on the water….

Up with the sunrise for the next of my commitments – a guest slot on Race Week radio down in the marina. Dean Miller (a presenter on Creek to Coast) and Rob Mundle (sailing journalist and legend) are the hosts and we had a ten minute chat about life on the island, plans for the week and how the Ashes were panning out – for once in England’s favour!

Race Week Radio

After watching many Cowes Week sailing regattas in the UK from the shore working for Mumm Champagne I had the chance to get out on the water and see some of the racing up close and personal aboard one of the hospitality boats Alanis – a luxurious motor launch full of the Tourism Queensland staff all on a big ‘thank-you’ weekend from Hamilton Island for their work over the last few months. Very well deserved too you guys.

We cruised down towards the start line off Catseye Beach together with a few other hospitality boats and the 194 yachts which make up this years competitive field. The 11 different classes all tightly bunched up twisting and turning around the ‘virtual’ line between the committee boats waiting for the starting claxon.

With virtually no wind this must be one of the most difficult things to do as a skipper, navigating around the other boats keeping one eye on the clock, one on the line and the other on keeping your yacht in one piece.

Passage Peak overlooking the start line

And then they were off…..the fleet heading south towards the turn around mark off Lindeman Island on a perfect day for spectating, if not sailing. The light breeze doing little to force a ripple on the surface let alone power these Formula One yachts through the crystal blue blue waters. It was a slow trickle south….

Chasing down towards Lindeman Island

We were lucky enough to spot a few Humpback whales on the way down the passage and caught two napping in open water, a mother a calf, who only realised we were there at the last minute and hurriedly splashed under the surface…not before I’d grabbed a few pics though:

Breaching baby Humpback

Powering past the near-static fleet we sat off Lindeman Island awaiting their arrival with the Grand Prix Div 1 boats arriving first as they turned into the channel….and lost all wind. Totally becalmed and going nowhere fast.

I wish we could have stayed around to watch the outcome but there’s work to do with this job you know and I have to visit Brampton Island for a few days so we headed back to Hamilton Island marina and straight to the airport.

End of day location: Hamilton Island

Distance travelled: 35kms