The Mothership Sailing

Together again ⛵️❤️ with the fab addition of Sarah Haywood 🤩Great consistent sailing in Adelaide in some solid conditions on a sporty Spider 22 against some much bigger boats. Amazing to see so many passionate women sailors out having a go. Loved having a chat with Sailor Girl HQ - Nic Douglass too. We sailed hard and sailing with no instruments got us back to basics. Terrific regatta and well organised 🤗 congrats all boats and crews who sent it in all different weather!! Thanks for having us 2025 we’ll be back! Clockwork Sailing

Together again ⛵️❤️ with the fab addition of Sarah Haywood 🤩Great consistent sailing in Adelaide in some solid conditions on a sporty Spider 22 against some much bigger boats. Amazing to see so many passionate women sailors out having a go. Loved having a chat with Sailor Girl HQ - Nic Douglass too. We sailed hard and sailing with no instruments got us back to basics. Terrific regatta and well organised 🤗 congrats all boats and crews who sent it in all different weather!! Thanks for having us SAWKR 2025 we’ll be back! Clockwork Sailing

Our mothership adventures continue.. Having sailed side by side for a month in a 520nm offshore ocean race plus island regattas, with each of us scoring wins 🏆🏆🏆... we have a brilliant little addition - sharp shooter joining us for the SA Women’s Keel Boat Regatta. We’re sailing a VX.. which none of us have ever sailed before!!!

We went into this Hobart to assess our readiness for Osaka and to get more miles under our belt. While the conditions were testing, we were settled in and sailing well and the boat felt great…

Until the furling line broke not once, not twice, not three times but four times. The fourth time unfortunately ended our race.

Being able to fix things in heavy conditions was good to know that we could do it and just very unfortunate the fourth fix was impossible at sea.

We are really gutted we are out of what was shaping up to be a good race for us but at the same time, given everything that unfolded in this year’s race, as mothers, wives and partners and daughters and sisters, we are so glad to be going home to our families in the next 24h.

We learnt a lot in these conditions about the boat and where she will look after us but also where we really need to make improvements to be efficient and less energy intensive for us to sail long distances.

We are now heading to Sydney to regroup and replan our next few months at sea.

Thank you so much for your care throughout these last few days. We really appreciated it.

Thank you Rolex Sydney Hobart for the nice post! ☺️ merry Xmas to all from the mothership!🎄

🔥🔥☺️

Co-skippers Saskia Groen-In't-Woud and Maud Demazure are tackling the 2024 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race as a qualifier for the Melbourne to Osaka race. https://www.sail-world.com/news/282357/?source=facebook

In less than two days, we will be setting sails in the legendary 628nm Sydney to Hobart yacht race. The boat is ready. The crew is ready. 😀

It will be a great race for the Mothership campaign as we will be navigating different weather systems. We can call it a miniature version of the Melbourne to Osaka with 8.5 times less nautical miles to be sailed. ⛵️

We are looking forward to pushing ourselves and testing the boat whilst being mindful that our main objective is to deliver Celeste in one piece to Hobart. In our sights are more than 6,500nm to be sailed to Osaka within the next three months. 🇯🇵

To follow along:
- https://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/tracker/
- The Nine network will be broadcasting the start, 1300 AEDT Boxing Day
- From overseas, follow the Sydney Hobart socials for streams and replays

Massive thanks for every donation to Jean Hailes for Women's Health. Your help will create a healthier future for all women in Australia through targeted research, clinical care and wide-ranging education programs and products. https://www.jeanhailes.org.au/donations 🙏

Last but not least, a big thank you to everyone who has supported us through this year’s journey of preparation and training.

Notably:
- Multitrade Building Hire for our great looking attire
- Gold Coast City Marina & Shipyard - Andrew Chapman, Colin Bradford, Cowlo and all the others who have helped us prepare the fast and safe boat that is Celeste
- Cruising Yacht Club Of Australia - we truly appreciated the warm welcome we received by your whole team
- Peter Cook for the countless hours you’ve spent with us preparing the boat and coaching us on everything ocean racing.
- Kathy Veel for your awesome advice and warm welcome every time we’ve been in Sydney (++ the cookies - they’ll be well appreciated when underway)
- David Turton for sharing your navigation expertise with us. It was not easy to remotely teach our two tech adverse minds on how to use Expedition.
- Without forgetting our families - if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t be here.

Merry Xmas to you all! See you in Hobart! 🎄🎅

In less than two days, we will be setting sails in the legendary 628nm Sydney to Hobart yacht race. The boat is ready. The crew is ready. 😀

It will be a great race for the Mothership campaign as we will be navigating different weather systems. We can call it a miniature version of the Melbourne to Osaka with 8.5 times less nautical miles to be sailed. ⛵️

We are looking forward to pushing ourselves and testing the boat whilst being mindful that our main objective is to deliver Celeste in one piece to Hobart. In our sights are more than 6,500nm to be sailed to Osaka within the next three months. 🇯🇵

To follow along:
- https://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/tracker/
- The Nine network will be broadcasting the start, 1300 AEDT Boxing Day
- From overseas, follow the Sydney Hobart socials for streams and replays

Massive thanks for every donation to . Your help will create a healthier future for all women in Australia through targeted research, clinical care and wide-ranging education programs and products. https://www.jeanhailes.org.au/donations 🙏

Last but not least, a big thank you to everyone who has supported us through this year’s journey of preparation and training.

Notably:
- for our great looking attire
- - Andrew Chapman, Colin Bradford, Cowlo and all the others who have helped us prepare the fast and safe boat that is Celeste
- - we truly appreciated the warm welcome we received by your whole team
- for the countless hours you’ve spent with us preparing the boat and coaching us on everything ocean racing.
- Kathy Veel for your awesome advice and warm welcome every time we’ve been in Sydney (++ the cookies - they’ll be well appreciated when underway)
- Dave Turton for sharing your navigation expertise with us. It was not easy to remotely teach our two tech adverse minds on how to use Expedition.
- Without forgetting our families - if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t be here.

Merry Xmas to you all! See you in Hobart! 🎄🎅

Cabbage Tree Race by Cruising Yacht Club Of Australia ✅

It took a while but we made it! While Celeste isn’t made for light conditions, we learnt we can keep her moving through sheer determination. We rounded Cabbage Tree island swearing and swearing “we will never eat cabbage again!!!”.

This race was a good test of ourselves, our systems and our prep for Osaka. The results are what they are but we are proud of us in finishing.

Cabbage Tree Race by ✅

It took a while but we made it! While Celeste isn’t made for light conditions, we learnt we can keep her moving through sheer determination. We rounded Cabbage Tree island swearing and swearing “we will never eat cabbage again!!!”.

This race was a good test of ourselves, our systems and our prep for Osaka. The results are what they are but we are proud of us in finishing.