Sports

I have been involved in five sports in adult life....Sailing, Snow Skiing, Tennis, Orienteering and Rogaining.

Sailing

I have had a lifelong love of sailing which I passed onto my father and my son. My first experience of sailing at 15 was to find myself sitting on the bottom of an upturned small sailing boat, belonging to a son of one of my father's colleagues, in the middle of a large bay. He had no idea of what to do and neither did I but it was clearly unsatisfactory as he started crying for his mother! I convinced my father to stump up half the cost of my own boat. He had no idea about sailing but he came down to the harbour one Sunday morning and took the boat out for a sail ON HIS OWN! From then on he was hooked and owned a succession of small sailing boats. The last one was a 33ft trimaran called "Ricochet". From there, my father went on to own a 30 foot racing Yachting World keel boat which we raced, summer and winter, with the CYC in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney. My son is a Senior Leader with a sea scout troop having been a sea scout Venturer. My father was one of the pioneer anaesthetists in Australia with no real hobbies before sailing which became a great interest for him for the rest of his life. My dad and I built a 16ft Quickcat sailing catamaran together.

Swallows and Amazons

We had great fun as kids mucking around on small sailing boats on Sydney Harbour. We even had our own boat shed in the former bathing hut at the Hermitage Estate on Rose Bay. The boats were unsinkable as long as we remembered to put the drain plugs in. Fortunately we were all good swimmers. I rigged up a lift system so we could get all our boats inside the shed. My first and last attempt at engineering.

Other Sailing Adventures

In retirement, I spent many happy social sailing days with my Probus club from Middle Harbour Yacht Club on the very comfortable Zeston 35 Renada. My dad later bought a Compass 28. I crewed on the Sydney Heritage Fleets' gentleman's schooner Boomerang. We hired a large catamaran on Pittwater and the Hawkesbury River.

Dad's Trimaran

The trimaran "Ricochet" was a real fun boat. We trained our son from a very early age. The bow of the trimaran was the perfect spot to stash a baby in a bouncinette and who didn't mind anyone using the head. Sailing up the Myall River to the Myall Lakes. We had to lower the mast to get under the Hawks Nest bridge and an unfulfilled dream.

SV James Craig 1874

The barque James Craig was rescued from Tasmania and restored to full operational capacity by the volunteers of the Sydney Heritage Fleet (formerly the Sydney Maritime Museum). They conduct regular offshore day sails, coastal cruises and bi-annual trips to Hobart for the Wooden Boats Festival.

I volunteered as climbing crew on "the Craig" for 4 years from 2015 to 2018 and it was the high point of my sailing career with many outstanding adventures. We conducted a youth activity called "The Helmsman Project"where we took 30 kids (boys OR girls) from disadvantaged schools in western Sydney on offshore adventures along the NSW coast. The changes in these kids was visible and extraordinary as a result of meeting seriously scary personal challenges. One girl gasped to her friends "I can't believe I've been up there!".

Climbing

Until you get familiar with it, climbing up the mast was very scary. There are platforms on the masts about 10m off the deck called "the futtocks" . To get on to them you have to lean backwards at about 45 degrees, with the ship swinging through 30 degree arcs or more; then walk your legs up a rope ladder (the ratlines) underneath. All the time your brain is screaming at you "Stop this! You shouldn't be doing this!" (see the Quidditch pic).....and the futtocks are the easy part of mast climbing. Note the guy ascending the futtocks in the middle image or my perspective above the deck in the second picture.

Below Decks

Sleeping in hammocks at sea is a whole new other experience. You would swear it is the hammocks which are swinging but there is a pendulum effect and your brain can't recognise that it is "the room" which is swinging. You quickly do when you put a foot on the deck. The deck above also leaks so you need a shower curtain tent over your hammock. On short trips, watches are 4 hours on 4 hours off so you never get more than three hours sleep at a time! Very tiring.

Other Duties

The volunteer crew also have many other duties during a 4 hour watch including ship fire inspections including the bilge and the engine room; steering the ship known as the Quartermaster; off ship sea boat rescue duties and forrard and stern look out duties. In the midst of all this you need to eat and sleep. Occasionally we get a bit of help from the passengers.

Retirement

Unfortunately, when I reached 75 I had to give up crewing. I could still do everything but I found my recovery time blew out with age. If you get too tired on a tall ship things become dangerous.

Bush Sports

We were very involved in two bush competitive sports, Orienteering and Rogaining.

Orienteering

We were involved in Orienteering for over a decade. Orienteering is a cross country running sport. Course winning times were 45 to 60 minutes but in our case 1-3 hours. Neither of us were any good at it but it was a reason to go to places and do the tourist bit. We orienteered in the south of Ireland near Cork and in Scotland in highlands near Inverness. We went to Broken Hill orienteering, Wilpena Pound in South Australia and York near Perth in WA.

Rogaining

Rogaining is a competitive bush walking sport involving endurance and pin point navigation day or night for teams of two to four people. Events are either 12 hour or 24 hours. It is similar to a Score event in Orienteering. There is a "hash house" providing 3 course hot meals. It was created by three Melbourne University students called Roger, Gail and Ian. It has become very popular and has spread around the world with regular world championships. I got a buzz from being able to navigate to fixed points in the bush which I felt was a defining Australian capability. The bush is a magic place in bright moonlight at night.

Chef Paul serving 80 lentil burgers volunteering in the hash house.

We also went rogaining in central Australia and down the South Coast of NSW. At the central Australia rogaine a young European couple asked us if we were the rescue team? Appearance trumps substance. The beer before the event was definitely a mistake!

Joadga Rogaine 2010

Joadga is an historic shale mining village about 30km NW of Mittagong in NSW. It was a hard rogaine because most of the controls were located on top of the escarpments surrounding a deep valley. A lot of teams lost points for being late to the finish.

Tennis

We played Sunday morning social tennis for many years with our neighbours in Northbridge, Sydney.

Skiing

I must confess to being a lifelong ski tragic. We even went to the mountains when there was no snow in the hope that it might turn up! Note the fly veils!

I first went skiing at the invitation of a school friend journo in about 1960. We slept on the floor at a central Perisher Valley ski lodge called Munjara amongst a whole lot of attractive girls. Wow! This is for me! The reality was rather different.

I joined the new Kalymaro Ski Club in North Perisher in 1963 financed by selling the sailing catamaran my dad and I had built. I was on the Board for a number of years and 6 years as President.

Early Lodge Members

The founder and driver of the lodge was Don (John) Hendry at right. He was the Public Affairs Manager of Woolworths and the driver of the lodge in the beginning. Pic #2 is the McF and S families with Jan L. The Morris Minor was owned by John Greenland an accountant. It had a V6 modified engine and created astonishment on the Monaro Highway when he zoomed past other apparently more powerful cars.

Relationships

Skiing was the beginnings of a life long relationship.

The Early Lodge 1960s

The early lodge was extremely basic, 5 x 2 bed bunk rooms and one 3 bed bunk room all on one level. There was no supermarket in the valley in those days so we had an emergency self service food store where the sauna is now located. I once had to go to AJ Campbells Grocery Wholesalers in Sydney and buy a load of groceries and transport it to the lodge.

The early lodge was very compact which forced residents to be sociable and created a great friendly atmosphere. The swinging 60s no less! The snow and ice effects give the lodge a safe cosy feel. Fortunately this was not lost in the later major building expansion and renovation.

Note the original the original kitchen which is now the air lock and the original drop down dining table underneath the window in pic#6.

The Kaly Magic

Kaly has an extraordinary effect on visitors due to a combination of many factors such as the communal dining area, the comfortable lounge area (added later), the sauna, the views and the cosy isolating effect of the ice and snow and the continual inter mixing of residents. There is a "ski home" effect where everyone gets together at the end of the day to discuss the their runs. The large beam which had to be inserted after the roof sagged after the big snow of 1964 is visible above the deer pic. The kids love Kaly because they meet new friends and have the adults captive for games like Trivial Pursuit.

The 1964 Big Snow

Soon after I joined Kaly we had a very heavy dump of snow. I was even able to ski on to the roof (as you do). The T-bars were getting buried so the Valley was offering free day tickets to anyone who would turn up early and help dig them out. There was a tunnel down to the door of The Man From Snowy River Hotel in the main valley and similarly to our ski door. It was a real chore trying to find our paper and cardboard incinerator. The snow plough is clearing the road up from Smiggins Holes.

Competition

I only ever entered one ski competition, the end of season Inter Club Championships in Perisher Valley at the end of the season each year. We won the Perisher Pot for the Most Improved Team which was a bit of a steal as we had never entered before or since.

Competitive skiing was left to our grand kids.

Snowy Mountains Transport

Getting around in the Australian snow country has always been a big problem addressed by a wide array of transport solutions. Here we have everything from the through mountain Ski Tube train, to services like gas, garbage, fire and ambulance, to personal ski-doos and snow ploughs to over snow taxis.

Ski Touring

We didn't do a lot of ski touring as the Australian alps are very old and eroded and there is very little shelter on the Main Range in a blizzard. Four young boys once died of asphyxiation in a snow cave out back. We trekked to White's River Hut in winter and to Lake Albina Lodge deep in the Main Range. We got snowed in there in a blizzard much to the amusement of our work colleagues when we got back to Sydney. The hut was removed by NPWS later ostensibly for safety expectations reasons. We did a "snow skiing" day trip on the main range from Thredbo towed behind a snow mobile.

Lake Albina Hut

Notice the white out in the final picture which made it too dangerous for us to attempt to get back to the Thredbo chair lift until the weather improved!

Whites River Hut

We trekked up the track to Schlink Pass from the Guthega power station to White's River hut in 1966 expecting it to be empty but we met a party of about 10 Pittwater House Grammar school boys with two support teachers. We subsequently visited Whites River hut many times in summer.

School Boys

It was pretty crowded with us, the boys and native rats known as "Muldoon the Glutton" and Mastacomys Fuscus in the hut. The boys quickly learnt you have to start small with igloos otherwise you need to stand on a chair to put in the cap stone. One of them slipped and slashed his hand on an open can lid. We had to ski out to Guthega power station with him to seek medical attention. They had arranged to have an air drop of food supplies. A 5kg bag of boiled sweets hit a rock and they had 5 kg of boiled "bread crumbs".

Blue Cow mountain

I once langlauffed to Blue Cow mountain up behind Kaly when there was absolutely nothing there with member Ian McCrossin and friend Cheryl. Now there are multiple ski lifts and a train station. Ian decided to build a fire on the snow to soften the ski wax on his cross country skis. Not very practical? The fire melted the snow underneath and it went down its own hole and fizzled out.

Snow Mobile Ski Touring

We did a "snow" skiing day trip on the main range from Thredbo towed behind a snow mobile. Very politically incorrect these days especially the dog and definitely not allowed any more. Notice the falling snow cliff or cornice in my photo #3. A falling cornice smashed an early ski lodge nearby off its foundations and Roslyn Wesche was thrown from her top bunk and killed. Cornices are a serious touring hazard for ski tourers in blizzards and white outs. It is the equivalent of skiing off a cliff!

Lodge Extensions and Repairs

The mountain weather is extreme and punishes anything man made. With a lot of effort and cost Kalymaro is still in good shape after more the 60 years. I have often lain in bed listening to the howling blizzard and expecting the lodge to be blown off its foundations. The lodge underwent a major makeover in 1987 and major repairs in the early 2000s.

Roof Sag

The first problem was the need to repair a lounge room roof sag after the heavy snow falls in 1964. Note the new large beam to support the roof.

New Fire Escape

Originally there was no fire escape at the north end of the lodge except through a bedroom window. At NPWS request a lot of thought went into somehow fitting in an actual fire escape.

1987 Major Lodge Makeover

Driven by a member architect, there was a major makeover of the lodge in 1987 which involved moving 3 bed rooms downstairs, 2 new bath rooms downstairs, a new ski room and a new lounge plus a lot of cosmetic stone facing.

Early 2000s Major Modifications

Major modifications were triggered in the early 2000s by NPWS acting on the recommendations of the Year of the Disabled which involved building a ramp from the road to the lodge for wheelchair access and widening the upstairs hallway so a wheelchair could turn around. We complained about the ramp at first but it has been a major boon for luggage entry and exit. The lodge has become much warmer with wall and roof insulation and double glazing. Under floor heating in the bathrooms is a real luxury. Rather different from the original lodge.