I have a confession to make. I’ve been a boatie for over fifty years. I’m a member of the Halvorsen family and I’ve rowed, motored, paddled and sailed my entire life, but never actually taken part in a yacht race … until a few weeks ago, when the kind and generous Richard Hudson, skipper of the 45-foot Farr Pretty Woman, invited me to join him and his affable crew on board for Pittwater’s Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club’s Wednesday afternoon race.
   It wasn’t altogether a random act of kindness on Richard’s part. As a former Commodore and now Chairman of the club’s Archives Committee, Richard had asked me to visit to discuss updating its history, Yachting and the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club by Graeme Norman published in 1988. The update is timed for the club’s 150th anniversary in 2018.
   The project not only appealed to me as a maritime historian but it also hit a sentimental note, given my family’s connection with RPAYC over many years. All five of my mother’s brothers, and my cousin Harvey, are mentioned in Graeme Norman’s book.
   My uncle, Carl Halvorsen, has only recently given up sailing his timber 5.5m class yacht, Skagerak, built at the family yard at Ryde in 1973. Most of Skagerak’s races were the auspices of the RPAYC. I guess Uncle Carl can be forgiven for finally ‘stowing the sails’, given that he will be 97 years old this year.
   Even my grandfather, Lars, rates a mention, having built two Prince Class 28-foot Gunter rig yachts in the 1920s. The class was the brainchild of the RPAYC. Despite high hopes for the Prince Class, only four were built. One of my grandfather’s, Scarab, can still be seen on Sydney Harbour, albeit substantially rebuilt.
   The official part of my meeting with Richard Hudson over, he welcomed me aboard Pretty Woman, with instructions to avoid the boom at all costs. This is something that had been ingrained in me from childhood but, seeing the size of Pretty Woman’s boom, I made a mental note to thank my uncles for the training they gave me all those years ago. What a monster!
   My husband and I own a much-loved Compass 23 – officially Viking II but known affectionately as The Floating Bathtub – and I sailed on the three-time Sydney to Hobart winner, Freya, many years ago but Pretty Woman was a revelation to me. Who’d have thought you could sail such a large yacht that didn’t even have a transom?!
   Lamely, I commented that Pretty Woman reminded me of the Laser 2 we used to own. Pretty Woman, with her carbon fibre sails and powerful winches, was worlds away from both the Laser and the Bathtub – which, I have to confess, is more of a holiday house than a machine built to harness the power of the wind to propel her at speed through the water.
   We consider ourselves speeding if the Bathtub makes four knots and, frankly, my adult experience had so far rejected any boat that wouldn’t allow me to hold on to the boat and to my glass of sauvignon blanc, while pulling in the odd sheet only when absolutely necessary.
   To this racing novice, Pretty Woman’s beam seemed endless, and the sprints across her deck when tacking during the 95 minutes (and 31 seconds) of the race represented a month’s exercise compared with that on the Bathtub – whose greatest physical challenge for this deckhand is to tie her up at the Sydney Fish Market without ending up in the drink, thus contributing greatly to the amusement of the fisherman and other boaties (you know who you are!).
   Pretty Woman’s nemesis is Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats X and the competition and camaraderie during that day’s race were infectious. Wednesday’s race is, I’m told, a relaxed, social day. (Another mental note: do not volunteer for the ‘serious’ races).
   Thanks to some clever manoeuvring by our skipper, Pretty Woman was first across the starting line but was very soon overtaken by the much larger Wild Oats X. But, despite Wild Oats X’s advantages, Pretty Woman rounded the first mark at Towlers Bay in the lead. The crew were ecstatic!
   “Did you get a photo of Pretty Woman leading Wild Oats X?” they yelled. I’d have fallen headfirst over the gunwale during a tack to have risked missing that photo … or been hung, drawn and quartered if I’d failed to record such an auspicious event. To win the start with such competition was a great achievement. To round the first mark in the lead was heady stuff!
   The wind at the start of the race was fluky. It seemed to come from all directions, the only obvious indicators being disturbance on the water as the crew kept an eye out for something – anything – that would improve our chances. As the race progressed, though, the wind direction settled and increased, and my sprints from port to starboard and back as we tacked took on a more serious note.
   It wasn’t just the boom I had to worry about now – it was the possibility of being hurled over the lee gunwale as the yacht changed tack. The thought of the ignominy of having to swim ashore kept me well and truly focused!
   The race ended up with as much good humour as it started. As expected, Wild Oats X crossed the line first but Pretty Woman earned an admirable second place on handicap, beaten by the brilliantly-sailed Eye Candy by only one minute.
   For this racing novice, it was the race of a lifetime.
   If you have interesting memories of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, the Archives Committee would like to hear from you. They can be contacted through their Marketing & Publicity Manager, Damian Devine. The postal address is PO Box 99, Newport Beach 2106, or if you prefer email, write to damiand@rpayc.com.au.

Randi Svensen* is in the final stages of a book on the history of tugboats in Australia, with particular emphasis on the people and incidents in the industry since 1831.