Rattle N Hum III

Ed Gibson

Rachel Gibson

Rattle N Hum

Queensland entrant Rattle N Hum III is an Adams 15 with the extended sugar scoop stern making her LOA 16.5m. She sports a cutter rig and carries a wardrobe of asymmetrical kites to keep her honest. Designed by Joe Adams and Graham Radford, built by McIntyre Yachts and launched on 1990 ‘Rattle’ spent her early years club racing and the odd ocean race such as the Brisbane to Gizo (Solomon Islands) Race. During the 90’s the Adams 15 production boats proved to be a very honest racing yacht especially when it came to running off the breeze

The Melbourne to Osaka race has been no stranger to the Adams yachts with many being entered since the very first M2O race and all distinguishing themselves in varying degrees.

‘Rattle’ is owned and co-skippered by Ed and Rachel Gibson who are the second owners of the boat which they have been sailing since early 2004 with the Hervey Bay Boat Club Yacht Squadron. As well as Rattle N Hum III, Ed and Rachel own a custom 7m OAK trimaran ‘The Squirrel’ which they race very regularly in the waters off Fraser Island.

Ed admits that today’s more modern yacht designs with their lighter construction and dynamic rigs and sails tend to set the pace in this day and age, but with the right conditions ‘Rattle’ can still pull up her skirt and crack along with good daily log averages.

Ed has been on sailing boats since a very young age and has logged well over 75,000nm of which many were throughout the pacific. He has competed in a round the world yacht race, numerous classic and coastal races, deliveries and cruised the deep blue more times than he can remember. Ed has also sailed the Isle of Wright and Fastnet Races! Along with the monohull sailing he has raced extensively on multihulls at national level. Ed holds a Yacht Master and Offshore Coxswain qualifications.

Rachel first started sailing early this century and has evolved into a fantastic offshore racer. She has a keen eye and feel for trimming and brings a great suite of skills expected of a successful short-handed skipper. Rachel has logged over 10,000nm.

In their spare time and to stay nice and fit, both Ed and Rachel are competitive outrigger racers paddling at both national and international regattas.

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/rattlenhum3/

Design Adams/Radford 16.4

Launch Year 1990

Spirit of Downunder

Laurie Ford

Tim Ford

SOD

Laurie Ford will compete in the M2O 2018 with his son Tim on his Cameron de Lange 12m yacht. This will be Laurie’s third M2O. The first one was in 1999 with Peter DeLange as co - skipper and the second was 2013 with Tim.
Laurie recalls that the first one took 36 days mainly due to hitting a Sunfish off Sydney Heads when surfing with 50 - 60 knots up their stern. On becoming becalmed in the Coral Sea , they found all the fibreglass fairings around the steel sub structure had been destroyed as a result. They still managed to win their Racing Division C for yachts of 10 to 12 metres, which included a day stop at Lihir Island to try and fix the alternator which had died due to overheating. The Diodes had melted in the heat.
Laurie’s experience (and age!) will be hard to beat in 2018.

Surfdude

Steven Ho

Chris Warren

SteveHo

International entrant, Steve Ho from Hong Kong, attended the M2O 2018 information session at SYC in March 2016 and signed up to undertake the race. Surfdude is a Felci 45 and has competed in a number of races from Hong Kong to the Philippines, Vietnam, Hainan and Taiwan.

Steve plans to upgrade existing instruments, overhaul the engine, and incorporate a furling system, amongst other improvements for short handed sailing.

Whilst Steve does not yet have a co-skipper, his enthusiasm to compete in the race is strong

surfdude

Red Jacket

Annette and Andrew Hesselmans

AnnatteAndRod

Brother and sister entrants, Annette and Andrew Hesselmans, will contest the M2O 2018 in a Radford designed 12.2 metre yacht named after the clipper sailing ship which broke many passage speed records in the 1860’s and was one of the fastest ships of its time. Red Jacket won the 1999 Sydney to Hobart race in its Division. Annette watched the start of the 1987 M2O race as a sailing obsessed 17 year old and so it is with great excitement that she is now able to participate.

Both Annette and Andrew have many years of experience racing, delivering and cruising. Andrew has crewed on Spirit of Downunder (another entrant) in three Melbourne to Hobart races and cites surfing around the South West Cape at 28 knots as an exhilarating experience.

Both sailors are looking forward to the challenge of the Melbourne to Osaka and Annette particularly wants to use the opportunity to encourage her children and other female sailors to take up the sport and strive to achieve.

Preparations for the race are a little complicated with Annette (a remote area nurse) living in northern NSW and Andrew in Victoria. Planning includes a cutter rig with furlers, developing power generation and improving electronics.

Their decision to participate in the M2O 2018 was made whilst undertaking the Oxfam Trailwalker 2015 100 km endurance event. If they could walk 100km, they could certainly sail to Osaka!. To do it together came very naturally.

RedJacketsailing

Tatou Miti

Michael Reinehr

Nathan Anderson

Tatoui

Michael Reinehr (58) will skipper, and Nathan Anderson(26) will co-skipper Tatou Miti in the M2O 2018. Tatou Miti, meaning ‘Our Dream” in Samoan is appropriately a Van der Stadt Samoan 48 owned by Michael. Both men are instructors at Sandringham Yacht Club, and were attracted to the challenge of the race as well as the personal challenge. Racing credentials for this team include Sydney and Melbourne to Hobart races, Melbourne to Vanuatu, and Adelaide to Port Lincoln. They have both also undertaken a number of long haul deliveries. Nathan has enjoyed three seasons of sailing around Thailand, the Caribbean, Croatia and Greece. Michael cites a special moment for him being seeing the sunset and moon rise at the same time whilst sailing across the Coral Sea in the Vanuatu Race.

When asked about a scary moment they had experienced, Michael replied: “snapping a mast in the Sydney to Hobart” race; while Nathan’s scary moment was telling his mother that he is planning to sail to Osaka!. Nathan is looking forward to sailing south to north across the equator into a completely new culture and destination he has never been to before; while Michael is looking forward to arriving in Osaka and still being friends with his co-skipper!.