Sandra Bees has survived an intense crash-course in short-handed sailing to prep for next week’s Offshore Double Handed World Championships in Lorient. But only by a whisker – twice – it transpires.
The 59-year-old Aucklander, one half of the Sail IQ Racing Team set to fly the Richmond Yacht Club burgee off Brittany, has revealed a second scary training sail moment with co-skipper and partner Andrew Hall.
Practicing manoeuvres on the Waitematā Harbour ahead of the World Sailing-sanctioned regatta last Saturday, Bees took a backstay to the face in a gybe gone wrong. She suffered cuts, abrasions and deep bruising but bravely trained on after overcoming the initial shock of the incident, caused when the slackened backstay caught on the end of the boom in the gybe.
It was the second time Bees has escaped serious injury on Shiraee, a Young 88 generously lent to the couple by owner Allan Geddes for training purposes.
She was incredibly lucky not to be more badly hurt after being struck by the boom in an accidental gybe off the Coromandel at 2am one morning earlier in their training. Fortunately, Hall saw it happening and dived to push Bees out of the way so she didn’t take the full impact. Hall fell on to Shiraee’s coaming as a result and injured his ribs but it could have turned out much worse.
So too Saturday’s grizzly gybe which left Bees bloodied but unbowed.
“Shiraee 2, Sandra nil,” Hall said in a message shortly after last Saturday’s second scare.
“Who would have thought that 3mm dyneema line could do that type of damage.”
Bees takes up the story.
“The backstay had not been tensioned, so it had become a little loose. Loose enough to get caught on the boom and be brought across the boat when we gybed. I just happen to be standing in its path, fully focused on trimming the headsail as we were transitioning from the gybe into a reach.
“The backstay is a line of 3mm dyneema. It travelled upwards across my face, catching my lip, cheek, sunglasses, which bent and pushed into my nose and finally across my forehead.
“I did cry out but while it hurt, I think I was more shocked than anything, it was so unexpected. I had to have a wee sit down to settle the nerves and stop my lip from bleeding. Was good to go after about 15 minutes and an interrogation to ensure I had no concussion.”
For Hall, the moment was sobering, “how things can go bad very quickly when small attention to detail is missed”.
“Our training on Saturday was to consist of tacking practices with bear away and general mark rounding skills as a team. I just felt we were lacking a bit of fizz with this manoeuvring,” Hall said.
“We had Tony McAlwee on board as a bit of mentorship, another set of eyes to see how we could improve. He was standing in the companion way, looking toward the stern. As we came out of the gybe, I saw his face, and it was one of horror.
“As I turned to look at the stern, I saw Sandy had been hit and was injured, she had a lot of blood around her mouth. You always think the worst and my immediate thought was she had been hit by the boom.”
The headsail was quickly doused so the boys could tend to Bees’ injuries and reassess. Then, Hall was shocked again.
“I made the comment ‘looks like we had better call it a day’ but to her credit, Sandy said ‘no, let’s crack on’. We did have a shorter day than intended but that’s the stuff that makes it all work.”
Courtesy Lorient Grand Large/James Tomlinson – RORC
The couple are now in France putting the finishing touches on their prep for the second of the world championship’s two 11-yacht, 12-hour, overnight eliminator races on September 25. They’ll need to finish in the top five to reach the 48-hour final starting September 29.
This week is scheduled to include three practice days – at €600 (NZ$1073) a pop – familiarising themselves with the Jeanneau Sun Fast 30s that will be used in the racing off the Brittany coast.
You can be sure both Hall and Bees will take special care to stay safe without sacrificing speed
“Getting back to attention to detail, we had neglected to cleat off the backstay properly [on Shiree] and in each gybe it just got that little bit looser. In the fateful gybe, it had been caught in the end of the boom and smashed its way across Sandy’s face with speed and force.
“We can joke now about giving the co-skipper the bash if she gets too lippy but honestly, it was scary.”
Here’s to fast, incident free sailing here on in for Bees and Hall who will be sailing under the moniker ‘NZL 1’ in Lorient.
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