wbvs58
Well-known member
Thought I'd show you something a bit different. This is my granddaughter Ashlee and her friend and sailing partner Natalie sailing Ash's 29er. It is not the photo I intended to upload but it is a good one with them on a reach with the spinnaker up.
Ash is the skipper on the helm and Natalie is out on the trapeze. They have only been sailing the 29er for about a month, they are 15 years old and have only just graduated from the single sail sabot boat that most kids in Australia start out on. Ashlee did the research and wanted the 29er as her next boat, they are certainly an exciting boat. I was sceptical about it as it is a huge step up from the sabot and many kids just find them too hard and then give sailing away but the two girls have showed a lot of dedication with training and have had far fewer capsizes than most sailing them. My wife Pam basically bought the boat for her and put the hard word on me to chip in with a couple of thousand but it is up to her parents now for maintenance and new sails when they get into serious championships.
Ash has showed a lot of natural talent as a skipper, has a good feel for the conditions and picks the wind shifts well. She was asked by the president of the school sailing club to skipper one of the schools 125 boats in a regatta over Easter with his daughter as crew who is 2 years older than Ash as it was her last year at the school and he thought it would give her the best chance to do well. In a boat that Ash was not familiar with they ran a close 2nd in a big fleet from all over the country and it was by far the highest placing that anyone from the school had got.
The 29er is a step up boat to the 49er which is the Olympic class boat. I think they will need a sponsor if they decide to have a shot at the Olympics down the track with a 49er but who knows, Natalie's mother sailed a laser at the Atlanta Olympics and ran 4th I think. I do know they have ambitions for Natalie but the girls just love their sailing and have great friends in it that they hang out with.
Ken
Ash is the skipper on the helm and Natalie is out on the trapeze. They have only been sailing the 29er for about a month, they are 15 years old and have only just graduated from the single sail sabot boat that most kids in Australia start out on. Ashlee did the research and wanted the 29er as her next boat, they are certainly an exciting boat. I was sceptical about it as it is a huge step up from the sabot and many kids just find them too hard and then give sailing away but the two girls have showed a lot of dedication with training and have had far fewer capsizes than most sailing them. My wife Pam basically bought the boat for her and put the hard word on me to chip in with a couple of thousand but it is up to her parents now for maintenance and new sails when they get into serious championships.
Ash has showed a lot of natural talent as a skipper, has a good feel for the conditions and picks the wind shifts well. She was asked by the president of the school sailing club to skipper one of the schools 125 boats in a regatta over Easter with his daughter as crew who is 2 years older than Ash as it was her last year at the school and he thought it would give her the best chance to do well. In a boat that Ash was not familiar with they ran a close 2nd in a big fleet from all over the country and it was by far the highest placing that anyone from the school had got.
The 29er is a step up boat to the 49er which is the Olympic class boat. I think they will need a sponsor if they decide to have a shot at the Olympics down the track with a 49er but who knows, Natalie's mother sailed a laser at the Atlanta Olympics and ran 4th I think. I do know they have ambitions for Natalie but the girls just love their sailing and have great friends in it that they hang out with.
Ken
