FOR FIVE YEARS, KURT HANSEN WAS LOST TO SAILING.
Burnt out after a prolonged stint travelling the globe in the 49er class, the then 22-year-old walked away from the sport to pursue other interests – including ironman triathlon events – while building a career in the renewable energy sector.
“I felt I had to focus on other things for a while, so I gave the sailing away,” Hansen explained. “You certainly miss the sport after a great day on the water but then you remember all the shifts you’ve been on the wrong side of, plus the time and financial commitment, and it brings you back to Earth. It’s a beautifully challenging sport. “It was probably after watching the sailing at the Paris (Olympic) Games that I started thinking about sailing again. I remembered how much fun it was. “It was about then that (Manly 16s sailor) Chris (Williams) called and asked me about sailing 16s and I said I’ll go out and see how it goes.” We can report it’s going well.
Despite being off the water for five years, Hansen has lost none of his skills or sailing awareness. Sharing skipper duties with Daryl Milham on Modern Concept Constructions (MCC), the 27-year-old has quickly emerged as a genuine threat in this red-hot Manly 16s fleet. Combining with Jackson Cranfield and Williams in just his third race at Manly, Hansen led the field home in last Saturday’s third heat of the club championship.
In a flukey easterly and outgoing tide, MCC got off to a great start to take the lead at the top mark. By the bottom mark they found themselves in a dogfight with Bosker Build (Sarah Lee), the reigning St George club champion and National Champion, entering the race for a hit-out but ineligible to collect an official placing after fishing second. Once MCC was able to squeeze past Bosker, they extended their advantage to finish a minute ahead of Red Pumps Red (Zoe Dransfield), Moonen Yachts (Daniel Turner) and Red Pumps (Tyler Dransfield).
“The conditions lent themselves to a race that was back and forth…it was a real snakes and ladders type day,” Hansen explained. “I actually thought we’d fallen out of it at one stage but a puff of wind from God put us back in contention. “We just sailed pretty conservatively from there.” It was a first club championship win for both Hansen and Williams with the promise of a lot more to come.
MCC currently sits second behind Red Pumps on the overall series score and also plan to be up to their neck in the race for the upcoming state and national titles. “Chris and Jackson are keen to have a red-hot crack at the nationals, states and club champs and I really hope I can step up to the plate and help them,” Hansen said. “For me, it’s about going out there with no pressure and having a lot of fun and that’s when I sail at my best.”
Meanwhile, Fluid Building claimed handicap honours while Harken (Heidi Bates/Orlando Sadlik) made it three straight club championship heat wins in the 13s. Heidi said: “Saturday’s race was set in super lumpy and shifty conditions with the top mark set all the way out the Heads. “Up the first leg it was really tight with close battles between the top five boats. As we are quite light our boat speed was good in the conditions and after the first lap we were able to pull away and get the win. “This season our main goals are to keep improving and learning as much as we can from the racing and the class. “We would also like to prove that we can be really competitive in all conditions, especially the windier conditions as we are a lighter team. “We want to give club, states and nationals our best go.”
WORDS | Adam Lucius – Freelance journalist
IMAGES | SailMedia
