Eileen Hardy Trophy Winner – Candice Cushway
I Began sailing from the age of seven when the whole family sailed together on my parents’ trailer sailer Timpenny 670 Cyren at LBSC. As I got a bit older and was starting to grow, Dad bought me a Holdfast Trainer Apache. That is when I was introduced to boat maintenance and fibre-glassing (it was a wooden boat and on my first sail I called out to Dad that the boat was leaking). As I kept growing, Dad bought an International Cadet Wanderer. I then crewed on Rainbows with Brenton O’Brien and Stephen Marshall and later crewed on a Tasar with Kirsty Harris. I also competed in secondary school sailing, crewing for Damien Carey in a Mirror. I mainly sailed on weekends in the occasional Country and Metropolitan Regattas, and Nationals. At 19 I joined the Army and off I went, leaving the frequent sailing behind.
While working in Darwin I noticed yachts moving backwards (big tides assisting). This put me off sailing in the NT! However, I have since been back to sail in the Tasar Nationals and would love to do the Darwin Regatta. When I moved to Canberra in 2010 I had the urge to get back into sailing. One Twilight race day I went to the Canberra Yacht Club and walked to the trailer sailer rigging and launch area. I approached some boats asking if they needed a crew and I was invited to board Sonata 6.7 Blu & Me. From the conversations we had I found out that this yacht was purchased from SA and was previously named Port and Coffee, owned by Stewart and Rose Ross. Now that’s a small world! It was one of the TSA boats I remember as a kid when the family went on sailing adventures on the River Murray, the Coorong and the Whitsunday Islands. My first night-sailing experience was the Marlay Point Overnight Race in the Gippsland Lakes when I was eight.
While in Canberra I bought a Laser Radial to regain some dinghy sailing experience. As it didn’t have a name I named her Sea Cubed. This was created by using Captain Candice Cushway (C3) and placed a nautical spin on it. I heard about Hamilton Island Race Week and attended nine regattas on the maxi yacht Condor. A lot of fun was had, and also great experience on big winches, grinders and large heavy sails. She was a beautiful boat to sail on. We won 1st Div Cruising and the next year I brought Dad along to experience this regatta.
A pivotal point in my sailing happened when I crewed for Rick Longbottom (retired Capt RAN), winner of the 1988 Tasar Worlds. I crewed for Rick in the 2011 Tasar Nationals at Woollahra and he taught me the choreography of sailing. It was intense and required a lot of concentration during and between each race. This gave me great experience. We came 1st in the Masters and 5th overall.
My next move was to Sydney where I really got into a lot of sailing, both on dinghies and yachts. I raced my Laser at Double Bay Sailing Club (the most friendly, fun and welcoming club I have experienced) and I won one race! I found out about the Army Sailing Club and their Jarken 30 Gun Runner moored in Rushcutters Bay. On my first Twilight race on Gun Runner I was greeted by a newly-qualified Day Skipper. In my competitive nature I asked how they were going in the races. He said they hung back a bit from the start line and then after most of the boats have started they then got started. They came last most of the time. I convinced the skipper to just find a gap on the line and go. We found a gap, started on the line and on time. That night we came 1st on handicap. The skipper said, “You can come back!” A Day Skipper Certificate was required in order to skipper Gun Runner so as I was interested in skippering Gun Runner I did the course. Twilight races often involved introducing new sailors to sailing. A safety brief and quick introduction to winching and how the sails and sheets worked, and then we were off and racing!
I soon became interested in completing a Sydney to Hobart race. It felt like it was the thing to do if you sailed in Sydney and I was keen to get some offshore/coastal sailing experience. Completing all the Crew qualifications required for Category 1 races made me eager to get offshore. Opportunities arose to assist the delivery of Enchantress from Portsea to Sydney, and Hobart to Adelaide. In 2017 I completed the Sydney to Hobart race onboard Gun Runner which had six crew. We came second-to-last and were greeted by the New Year’s Eve lunchtime crowd on Constitution Dock. It was an amazing feeling to finish this race on a 30 ft yacht. I was the only one from the race crew available to sail the yacht back to Sydney but I found seven ADF sailors (from novice to experienced) to join me in the delivery. This was an awesome experience and my first time I was responsible for sailors offshore.
A friend bought a Northshore 38 just as Sydney was going into COVID-19 lockdown and I assisted her in learning boat-handling skills. Cruising to Pittwater, Port Stephens and Bantry Bay and some fun days in Sydney Harbour were enjoyed by all. The RSYS held a Women’s Twilight series. It was great to see my friend improve in her sailing skills in each race and she was rewarded in the final race when crossing the line first. The brass bell was rung and the champagne bottle popped!
Finally I moved back home to Adelaide and joined RSAYS. I was really excited to be able to sail with my father Lloyd, sister Naomi and brother in-law Trevor and the rest of the crew who sail on my Dad’s Northshore 38 Quarante-deux. Naomi planted the seed with Dad to enter SAWKR in 2023 and the crew was made up of local and interstate sailors. Pressure was placed on Dad and his crew for the 2023-24 season when we won Div 2 and the Most Outstanding Boat in SAWKR. The team will be slightly different in 2024.
Sea Cubed is berthed at PRSC and I have sailed her only in winter. I completed the Melbourne to Hobart race 2022 on Enchantress. West Tassie is a wonderful place to see from the water. A lot of the southwest coast has hiking tracks where I walked several years ago.
It was great to join the crew of Mrs Overnewton in the 2023 AWKR. Other sailing opportunities enjoyed have been on Black Butterfly, Clockwork, Papillon and The XX Factor. There is always something different to learn on each boat, which keeps it interesting. I have really appreciated the opportunities I have had so far in my sailing journey.