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Festival Of Sails

Try, Try Again!

Devastated by his forced retirement from the Rolex Sydney Hobart, Trybooking.com skipper Grant Dunoon is looking forward to a drama free 2016 Festival of Sails.

“We do things a bit differently at the FOS,” explains Grant. “Because of the great flat water sailing in Corio Bay, we use it as a chance to have our kids with us so they learn the ropes of competitive sailing in a relatively safe environment.”

Grant, from RBYC, his wife Delma and their children Kate 17 and Lucas 15 are joined by another family with teenagers as well as a few extra youngsters to make up the numbers.

Describing his Moody 54 Ds as a “comfortable cruiser” Grant says the family has a great time, competing in the Cruising (Non Spinnaker) division to minimise the amount of heavy lifting required of the young crew.

“We treat it as a family weekend. Our division only has four races so there’s plenty of time to enjoy the social side of things. We love it.”

Grant says it was a gut-wrenching feeling to realise their preparation for the Sydney Hobart would come to nothing because of problems with the bow thruster. They pulled out on the second night even though they could see the weather abating.

But, he says, the upside was that his family flew up and they enjoyed the spectacle of Sydney Harbour on New Year’s Eve with an impromptu Great Gatsby Party. Now there’s a silver lining!