13/01/2024
Just wanted to give our final thank you’s to all those that supported our campaign! We had the biggest 3 month lead up to the race and we can't begin to say how thankful we are for everyone's support. It's truly wonderful how many people have backed us wholeheartedly and completely believed in the team from the very start. We’re so grateful for everyone’s time, energy, and knowledge and we have an extremely extensive list of generous people to thank!
The first and biggest ever thank you goes to Stephen and Amanda for trusting us with your beautiful boat Lawless, we’ll be forever grateful
• Julie and Bulls Eye Direct Marketing
• Damo and Guerrilla Espresso
• Hutch and Quantum Sails
• Dim and H Marine
• Clover Hill Wines and their delish sparkling
• Sam Tieds and PJs Chandlery
• Kylie and Smart Tax
• Sam and Jack and Precision Operators
• Jordan and Frankie and Converse Therapy
• Shaun, Colleen, and the copious support from everyone at the DSS
• Westella Vineyard for being beautiful hosts for our debrief
• Fish for giving us some expert nav and weather advice
• A VIP appearance from Adrienne Cahalan which were insanely grateful for
• Ty for giving us a diesel engine lesson
There are so many others that contributed along the way and we are continuously overwhelmed with all your generosity.
Our Race Journey:
Thanks to all that we made it to the start line! We had an incredible first day and raced so well. In the middle of the fleet with the other 30 footers we zoomed out to Low Head with our Big Red spinnaker up. We were then pretty much completely becalmed for about 20 agonising hours, until we made it round the north east corner through Banks Strait (which was a beautifully uneventful kite run).
Then the rest of the second day, and second night were pretty tough, with a sloppy sea state, lots of sea sickness, and very crazy weather systems! The third day we were outside Freycinet, already 10hrs behind where we expected to be and 5 boats had retired.
Looking ahead at the forecast for the next 24 hours and we were due to be hit by a huge southerly front around the Tasman Peninsula with 40+ knot winds and 4+ metre swell. We spent about 3 hours looking at all the models and chatting as a team. I made the insanely tough choice to retire Lawless from the race because I felt it would be unsafe and unmanageable around the Tasman, and the weather system wasn’t going to let up for a few days.
We pulled into Triabunna Wharf overnight as 1 of 7 boats in the fleet that retired.
We’re all so devastated we didn’t make it to the finish line. Plenty of tears were shed and hugs passed around but we also received so much support from friends, family, fellow sailors, and the race organisers. We’ve learnt so much and I have no doubt we’ll be back for more.
Everyone put their heart and soul into this campaign and I couldn't be more proud of the team and what we've achieved. Jodie, Tess, Mck, Jess, Laura, and Anna, you are all so incredibly skilled, resilient, and are a constant inspiration. I'm so privileged to have been able to share this wild adventure with you all. This will go down in history for so many reasons.
From our skipper, Órla Gray and the whole team.
