About The skipper
AUS
Nationality
28/10/23
Start date
Boat: Roaring Forty (1997 Lutra BOC Open 40)
Lives: Port Stephens, Australia
Born in: 1961
Miles sailed: 50.000+
Status: Full Entry
Where does your passion for sailing come from?
The need to be near water is difficult to explain…so let’s just say it’s in my DNA. Dad was born on the small island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands and proudly served in the Royal Navy on HMS Ark Royal and HMS Cumberland. Mum was a tailoress on Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton.
In 1964 and before the age of three, I had notched up my first Transatlantic, Panama transit and Pacific crossing. We departed Southampton UK on the good ship Flavia bound for a new life in Australia. The family ticket price heralded the nickname ‘ten-pound poms’. So no, I am not a convict. Unfortunately living by the sea was not in our parent’s plan, and we ended up living out west on a sheep station.
Fast forward to 1982 and I was working as a mechanic in Southport on the Gold Coast. There was no way I could afford a boat on my wage, so I signed up as a volunteer at Southport Surfers Paradise Air Sea Rescue (now Volunteer Marine Rescue Southport) to build my skills. I started as Junior Crew and progressed through the ranks to Offshore Skipper with my own crew. Dozens of times each duty day, we would navigate our 24ft twin hulled, 470HP Shark Cat through breaking surf over the extremely dangerous Southport Bar, looking for the deepest channel so we could safely escort vessels across the shifting sands. Thankfully the Southport Bar was later tamed with rock walls and dredged to become known as the Gold Coast Seaway, complete with a state-of-the-art sand bypass pumping system. The opening of The Gold Coast Seaway enabled Southport to be identified as an official Port of Entry which opened up the offshore racing scene.
About the same time, a good friend, the late John Kumm, taught my mate Glenn and I to sail Seabird, his Fisher 32. Then we started racing with GT and Johnny on a 26ft Steinman lightweight flyer called Fat Albert (affectionately known as Fatso). Our crew of ‘fearless’ Air Sea Rescue skippers pushed Fatso hard, so it’s not surprising we broke a lot of stuff.
Unlike many, I started in keel boats, not dinghies. My first taste of boat ownership was a Javelin 14ft skiff, followed in 2004 by Just Jo, a lovely 1974 Custom 30 (Peter Ebbutt) IOR racer that I refitted for solo sailing. In 2009 came Rogue Wave, a fantastic 1983 Sigma 36 (David Thomas) that I bought in Malaysia and sailed single-handed back to Australia. I competed in the 2014 and 2018 Solo Tasman Yacht Challenges from New Zealand to Mooloolaba followed by the 2019 75th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race (RSHYR) and backing up again in 2021 RSHYR for the inaugural double handed division.
In 2017, I took the plunge and purchased Roaring Forty to fulfil my dream to crack the Solo Unassisted Around Australia race record and all going to plan, the 40ft Around the World single handed, non-stop and unassisted record.
What are the lessons you learnt from sailing?
I believe military life and sailing are complimentary. Both require discipline to lead teams that operate in constrained, hostile and competitive environments in both day and night. You need to be fit; patient; mentally agile, resilient and aware to manage time/risk/fatigue so you can make deliberate, effective and timely decisions. You must also motivate yourself and others to succeed and win (even when others may not) and apply critical thinking to analyse and assess your own and others abilities and performance. Each possesses a sound level of technical knowledge to perform at their highest level, whilst remaining flexible to provide solutions in support of damage control (aka battle damage repairs).
What brought you to like single-handed sailing?
Self-reliance, self-belief and the need to challenge myself in an adventurous environment that I have limited influence and even less control. I enjoy the strategy, planning, navigation and tactics plus the technical aspects of boat preparation for maximum efficiency, whilst learning new skills that compliment my existing skills. I also like the shorthanded community and comradery.
What prompted you to sign up for this event?
“I believe it is in our nature to explore, to reach out into the unknown. The only true failure would be not to explore at all” (Ernest Shackleton)
I love reading about adventurers no matter what the discipline. These special people inspire through their actions, and my hope is that I too can inspire someone to chase their dream.
As a Sigma 36 owner, it was only natural to support Marco Nannini when he entered his Sigma 36 British Beagle, in the 2009 OSTAR. In 2011/12, I also supported and encouraged Marco during the Global Ocean Race (GOR) when he transitioned into his older generation Class 40 Financial Crisis. Huge effort and inspiration.
Call it fate or whatever, when Marco announced his Global Solo Challenge event, the concept aligned with my dreams and retirement plans and I was 100% committed. Marco’s GSC venture could now become a reality, and my own adventure.
How do you plan to prepare for this event?
Long distance planning is a challenge when based in Australia. Fortunately, a lot of my military project management experience involved dealing with international contractors from Australia, so I am aware of the risks and mitigations. I had already undertaken a significant refit during 2018-19 so I already had Roaring Forty in a very good state for a single-handed delivery home, however she was definitely not in a configuration for a competitive non-stop, unassisted circumnavigation event.
My old sails have over 35000nm on them having lapped the planet once, so a new Zoom Sails mainsail and Storm Jib are on order. I intend to upgrade the foredeck sail handling to include a structural furler to help reduce my foredeck exposure.
Sustainability in sailing is very important, so my sail wardrobe will be a mix of old and new sails, supported by a large bag of sail repair equipment!
I believe event owners and boat owners have a shared responsibility to promote sustainability and drive change to ensure racing and sailing in general is sustainable and affordable for anyone into the future. When I hear of high-end racing teams sailing with a sail wardrobe that has a like cycle of a single regatta (or even one race), the win at all costs mentality and wastage doesn’t sit well with me.
What do you think will be the biggest challenge?
Upon reflection, the biggest challenge has been not having Roaring Forty in Australia 24/7 for me to progress jobs without handing over budget funding to a contractor. This situation is a major cost driver. However, given the logistics, weather, wear and tear and other risks involved if I had to sail Roaring Forty to the start line in Spain from Australia, I think the loss balances out the risk since Roaring Forty now sits in A Coruna awaiting my return.
Tell us about your boat or the boat you would like to have?
Roaring Forty was designed by Lutra Design and built in Estonia by Akton Yachts. SP Technologies (now GURIT) did all the carbon structural engineering and you can check the website for their rock star client list. In 2008 a new triple spreader Southern Spars package installed in readiness for the 2008/09 Global Ocean Race (GOR).
My essential criteria focused on boats with demonstrated performance that were strongly constructed and ocean capable; setup for singlehanded racing with water ballast; and be affordable over a forecast 7-8 year campaign. Upwind performance was important, so any boat designed for an OSTAR was a good starting place.
In 2017, on one of my late-night web searches, I stumbled across a hot looking Lutra BOC Open 40 called Roaring Forty that had just listed in The Netherlands. Not only did she excite me, she also met all my essential criteria, had great lines and surprisingly the price was close to budget. I quickly found a lot of information on the web on her past performances demonstrating she was a fast, solid design with one circumnavigation under her keel and a few World Speed Records. An offer was quickly made and accepted, and I flew over to close the deal.
Do you intend to link this personal challenge with a social message?
Yes, definitely. Through my Aviator Ocean Racing campaign, collectively we will support two wonderful charity organisations; Brain Tumour Alliance Australia (BTAA) and Soldier On.
Brain Tumour Alliance Australia
BTAA supports brain cancer patients just like our young mate Bullet who documented his ‘warts-n-all’ brain cancer journey in his blog, The Tumour Trip. Sadly, Nathan lost his battle with brain cancer and passed away in Feb 22. I encourage you to pause your hectic life for a moment, and step into Bullets world. RIP buddy.
The wonderful folk associated with BTAA all have a story that connects them in some way to brain cancer; either as a patient, caregiver, family member or friend. Now they freely volunteer their time to BTAA so they can help provide support to not just the patients, but their families and caregivers.
BTAA do not receive government funding, and rely on the generosity of our community for support so they may continue their great work supporting the families and patients diagnosed with brain cancer.
Please consider digging deep and donating to BTAA; but just as importantly, we need you to carry the message to raise community awareness of the support available through BTAA to help take some pressure off those impacted by brain cancer.
Soldier On
Established in 2012 with a mission to focus support on post 1990 military veterans, Soldier On aims to help enable veterans and their families to thrive by providing a connected and holistic model of support in their transition journey.
Soldier On offers a full range of support services across health and wellbeing and social participation, including psychological support for better mental health, education and employment, as well as facilitation of social connections through sports and community networks, and advice on staying fit and healthy.
Soldier On is committed to working side-by-side with veterans and their families to help secure their futures and enable them to thrive in every area of civilian life. But we need your help. Soldier On relies on external funding to enable us to continue to deliver and grow these programs.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
In mid-April I depart Australia for A Coruna Spain where I will continue preparations on Roaring Forty. In late May I sail to Falmouth UK to compete in the Azores and Back (AZAB) race single-handed division starting 03 June, followed by my GSC 2000nm qualification passage into the North Atlantic. Then its back to Spain in August for any system tweaks and adjustments and to continue training.
I invite you to sail along with me in spirit around this big blue planet.
Please give what you can to support Brain Tumour Alliance Australia (BTAA) and Soldier On.
If you are super keen to help this old fella out in return for global brand exposure, then drop me a line and we can discuss sponsorship opportunities. Link to my personal Roaring Forty Crowdfunding Appeal.
The next 6 months will pass quickly, so a big thank you to GSC Director/Owner Marco Nannini and his staff, sponsors and partner companies. To all the competitors who will make the 2023/24 Global Solo Challenge a memorable event, well done on getting this far, so press on to the finish.
Sailing experience
I started offshore sailing on Queensland’s Gold Coast back in 1982. Sailing has taken me from Langkawi Malaysia; through the Malacca and Singapore Straits; South China Sea; Indonesian archipelago; across Australia’s remote Top End waters and over the isolated waters of Cape York; out through our magnificent but dangerous Great Barrier Reef and all the way from Queensland to Hobart in Tasmania.
I have completed multiple trans-Tasman solo crossings to and from New Zealand, and enjoyed our local racing at Port Stephens Yacht Club. Recent passages on Roaring Forty have taken me through the North Sea, UK and across the Bay of Biscay to A Coruna Spain. I estimate about 50000+nm under a few different keels, in a wide range of conditions with the majority doing what I enjoy the most…… sailing and racing solo and shorthanded and meeting likeminded soles.
Some memorable highlights include:
Taking first timers sailing or racing and watching them transition from apprehensive to excited.
2007 – first offshore solo Townsville to Port Stephens
2010 – solo Langkawi Malaysia to Newcastle Australia
2014 – Solo Tasman Challenge Yacht Race. Port Stephens- New Plymouth NZ- Mooloolaba – Port Stephens.
2018 – Solo Tasman Challenge Yacht Race. Port Stephens- New Plymouth NZ- Mooloolaba – Port Stephens.
2019 – 75th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race
2021 – Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Double Handed
About The Boat
Any other detail: Roaring Forty is a full carbon build with Southern Spars mast and has a solid history of past performances under her former owner/skipper, Michel Kleinjans. The very successful Belgian sailor raced Roaring Forty in the 2008/09 Global Ocean Race (with stops), winning the solo division whilst holding his own against the double-handed teams.
Sail Number: 7204
Model: Lutra BOC Open 40
Designer: Adrian Konynendyk, Lutra Yacht Design. Built: Akton Yachts, Estonia
Year built: 1997
LOA: 40 ft or 12.2m
Displacement: 4650kg plus 1000 L water ballast each side
Upwind sail area: Approx. 110m2
Downwind sail area: Approx. 247m2
