Background of Two-Handed Racing at CYCA

Published on 20 January 2023 at 07:54

In the 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart, Two-Handers joined the Sydney Hobart fleet with Jules Hall and Jan "Clogs" Scholten's diskoTrooper/Contender Sailcloth winning the Two Handed division in IRC, but not eligible to claim their 4th overall or 1st in the division they would have been placed in. 

The inclusion of Two Handed Racing on the CYCA's Agenda was from the Sailing Committee's Working Group meeting of 5th November 2013 with attendees Tony Kirby, Bradshaw Kellett, Denis Doyle, Paul Williams and John Cameron. The conversation regarding the growing Two Handed racing fleets within former all fully crewed races around the world and it would be remorse of the CYCA to at least not investigate the new growth in the sport.

2013 CYCA Sailing Committee Working Group Minutes excerpt introducing the discussion of Two-Handed Sailing to CYCA's Agenda

Over a four year period between 2014 and 2018, Two-Handed Racing was investigate by the CYCA Sailing Committee and CYCA admin (including person v autopilot, weight differentials, etc) with the first test events rolling out in the 2018/2019 Season. Different levels of qualification were set for the Two-Handers in essence for them to work their way towards competing in the great race.

 

I received a phone call from a certain fully crewed yacht owner warning me of a "Coup" in July 2020, six months before Two-Handers were set to race in their first Rolex Sydney Hobart, the cancelled 2020 race. All went quiet for two months when, bang, the outgoing Commodore and incoming Commodore of the CYCA announce they have had meetings with interested parties and that Two-Handers will not be legible to win any CYCA trophies overall. Due to COVID, the CYCA AGM was postponed to October and for a period of time it felt like we had two Commodores.

 

This issue went back and forth for two months, they were allowed to win, they weren't allowed to win. Both sides of the party calling and texting me to rally me one way or the other, a meme video being produced about a few of us that I received on 7th November 2020, until the final decision was made for the upcoming races for Two-Handers not to be allowed to win overall. The Board at the time then put a Special Purpose Working Group consisting of Past Commodore Kerry Roxburgh as Chair and Dad (Life Member David Kellett) and Life Member Peter Shipway in place. The group took just over one year to come up with a conclusion that Two-Handers can win any of the CYCA's major trophies, which you can read here:

https://cyca.com.au/two-handed-spwg-final-report/

Excerpt from the Two-Handed Timeline I had been keeping since 2014

As well as many friends of mine taking on the Two-Handed class, we also have many people who have dreamed to ocean race, but never had the budget. It is amazing what two people can do when they set themselves to it.

2021 180NM Cabbage Tree Island Race Overall IRC results. Two-Handers 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 7th. "It was a hand steering race all the way" winner, Rupert Henry.

Add comment

Comments

There are no comments yet.