Fog, Frost and First Place
SBSC 2026 Brass Monkey Winter Pursuit Series · Race 4 · 28 June 2026
Safety Beach Sailing Club · Port Phillip Bay
There are winter mornings on Port Phillip Bay that make you question leaving a warm bed, and others that make you glad you did. Sunday started as the former and became the latter.
When we arrived at Safety Beach, a thick, still fog shrouded the breakwater, turning everything beyond twenty metres into a grey suggestion. It was the kind of quiet, persistent cold that gets into your hands before you’ve finished tying off the dock lines.
Five of Eight
Shimmer, a Hanse 505 owned and skippered by Steve Twentyman, will be Steve’s ride in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart 2026. Sunday marked a rare alignment in the crew calendar: five of our eight Hobart team members were on the water together.
Sam Backwell, Andy Rentoul, Scott Pimlott, and I joined Steve, with Terry Kourtis, James, and John filling out the crew for the absent Martin Vaughan, Justin Hickey, and Ben Thompson.
Five of eight is a critical mass. It’s enough to start finding the rhythms that matter—who moves where at the tack, and how the communication shifts as the breeze comes in. These are nuances you only learn by sailing together. The Sydney Hobart is months away, but standing on the boat in the morning mist, the campaign felt entirely concrete.
The New Staysail
We also had new kit to test: a secondhand staysail sourced from a TP52. For a boat like Shimmer, adding a sail with that pedigree is a significant upgrade.
It went up for the first time and performed flawlessly. It gives us one more versatile option in the sail wardrobe depending on our angle and the breeze. Piece by piece, Shimmer is being properly prepared for the offshore challenges ahead.
The Race and The Standings
Race 4 of the Brass Monkey Winter Pursuit Series was sailed in light, unforgiving conditions. The breeze was barely enough to fill the sails as the sun began to break through. In light-air racing, every trim decision is magnified; there is nowhere to hide. Fortunately, Shimmer didn’t need to.
Just before the start, the fog cleared to reveal a completely glassy bay. The water was so transparent you could see straight to the sandy bottom beneath the hull—a rare sight for Port Phillip in June.
We finished second on the day, crossed by Patriot, a J/133 recently acquired by Peter Russell. Patriot sailed a strong, clean race and deserved the win. Crucially, our second-place finish was enough to keep Shimmer in first place overall in the series standings as we head into the second half of the winter season.
| Place | Boat | Skipper | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shimmer (SB5005) | Jac & Steve Twentyman | SBSC | ABD | (3) | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 2 | Patriot (SM133) | Peter Russell | SBSC | ABD | (5) | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | Happy Days (445) | Paul Copeland | SBSC | ABD | 1 | 5 | (6) | 6 |
| 3= | Ninjo (SB2) | David Phillips | SBSC | ABD | 2 | (5) | 4 | 6 |
| 5 | Echo Beach (8405) | Anthony Creed | MYC | ABD | 4 | 5 | (7) | 9 |
| 6 | Marrakesh (SB450) | Neil Hawker | SBSC | ABD | (10) | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| 7 | Perception (G6432) | Fiona Jones | SBSC | ABD | 10 | 1 | (10) | 11 |
| 8 | Fransiska (SB880) | Peter Morrison | SBSC | ABD | 10 | (14) | 3 | 13 |
| 8= | Assassin (AUS9999) | Scott Doughty | MYC | ABD | 10 | 3 | (10) | 13 |
| 8= | 11:11 (SB1111) | Till Brauckmann | SBSC | ABD | 8 | 5 | (10) | 13 |
| 11 | Summer Breeze (SB3) | Brett Millar | SBSC | ABD | 6 | 8 | (10) | 14 |
| 12 | Rawhide (SB110) | Cameron Barwick | SBSC | ABD | 10 | 5 | (10) | 15 |
| 13 | Anthea (SB3107) | John Wemyss | SBSC | ABD | 10 | (14) | 10 | 20 |
| 13= | Empara (SB161) | Peter Jones | SBSC | ABD | 10 | (14) | 10 | 20 |
| 13= | Balance (M333) | Mark Bulka | SBSC | ABD | 10 | (14) | 10 | 20 |
| 13= | Bêtise (B349) | Philippe Etienne | SBSC | ABD | 10 | (14) | 10 | 20 |
| 13= | Lumiere (SB501) | Ian Pearse | SBSC | ABD | 10 | (14) | 10 | 20 |
A new staysail, a podium finish, and maintaining the series lead made for an excellent Sunday’s work.
The momentum of our Hobart preparation is building. Every winter race is another lap of familiarity with the boat, the tuning, and each other. Martin, Justin, and Ben—you were missed, but the foundation is locking into place.
Blogs
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