Robert Hielkema Yachtsman

top coat and rigging

2011-10-31T17:50:00.002+13:00

must remember to tighten up striker!!! look at that glossy finish Harmen Hielkema preperation is the key and all of that!@!!

dos beams time for a sundowner

a white transom is fast!!!! cheers Graeme robbins

putting the steering together

hulls and beams nearly ready to go boating (well hulls and beam)

more preperation

2011-10-31T16:29:00.003+13:00

the paint wouldnt stick here too much glass not enough bog (damit i was trying to not put any bog on the boat (i must save weight i must save weight)

a bit of a wet sand in the rain look at my awsome saw horses

ok so a little bog here and there then

no more bog sand it off

When your dad says "preperation is the key to a good finnish" and all you want to do is go sailing you tend to try and speed up the process. enough prep already lets get to the top coat!

The new whiplash mascott!

2011-08-31T00:49:00.001+12:00

This is a sneek look at what the new whiplash mascott will look like

and finally some paint goes back on.

2011-08-31T00:36:00.003+12:00

A touch more sanding (voice from father in my head) "its all in the preperation my son!!!"

ok floor swept, boat swept, dust off hulls, water sprayed on the floor to prevent dust kicking up, changed dusty clothes, coating of thinners and one more rub down for good luck. now for the painting!!

And we are off good by wood hello sweet paint job.

varnish the decks or pain? varnish or paint..... PAINT

Yep both hulls what as you like

Under coat why whats the point?? 3 different paints why cant there be just one??

finally some more work underway

2011-08-31T00:24:00.004+12:00

oh yeah thats right i cracked the deck sitting on it the last time i sailed the boat better throw some glass and resin at that crack!! (the crack in the boat not.... never mind) go the heater!

better stack these away so Hana can get here car in the garage.

thanks for the plane dad. now lets get rid of some weight.

if only the PT was made of roto molded plastic!!

more scraping, more heat gun more sanding who put all this paint on?

where is that broom?

more of whiplash

2011-08-31T00:13:00.003+12:00

the PT hangs out with my kayak one hull stripped

the side profile

the boat on its home made road trailer got that one for 80 bux...

fittings off

some work to do around the inspection hatches

the paper tiger!! Whiplash!!

2011-08-30T23:50:00.004+12:00

sail numbers

the paper tiger logo

the whiplash logo

the whiplash mascott

Skudd class IFDS world Champs

2010-07-09T09:43:00.004+12:00

Im coaching the skud 18 class again and we are at the wolrds in Holland.

Practice day today, a chance to test our boat after many hours spent in the boat park, getting the yacht out of its bubble wrap and into racing shape.

We got off to a slow start slightly late towards the boat end of the line. We played catch up and enjoyed some good upwind boat speed which kept us in the hunt. We rounded in 8th at the first mark but had 4 boats within 2 lengths of us. Across the reech we stayed in touch with them and sailed fast down the run to the gate. 3 boats fell to us on that run and we rounded the mark overlapped with GBR and SIN.

The last beat was a long port tack and we used our speed to sail clear of the other boats. We rounded the last top mark in 6th position.

Down the final run the boats ahead started to bow to the pressure of the age old superstition “don’t win the medal race if you want to win the regatta,” this handed us a 2nd place for the day and a few things to work on.

We would like to thank predict wind.com for choosing us as a winner for a free year’s subscription to their excellent forecasts, by the way, the forecast was spot on today!! Thanks also to Air NZ for giving us a large baggage allowance which got us and all our required equipment to Holland. Thanks to The Glenn Family Foundation for sponsoring us, without them we wouldn’t be in Holland competing in this prestigious event.

Thanks also to all our friends, family and supporters.
We will bring home the goods tomorrow in the first 2 races of the regatta!

skud 18 world champs medemblik holland

2010-07-06T06:27:00.002+12:00

after somthing like 30 hours of travelling from auckland to LA

1 hour in business class lounge

more transfers back onto plane

sail melbourne coaching the skud 18

2009-12-15T21:13:00.002+13:00

we had an incident with our new boat and bent the mast. it used to be an aussie boat and we put NZL on the sails i dont think it liked us. so the next day we put a green and yellow rope on the mainsheet to fool the boat into thinking it was still an aussie, the next day no dramas, I think we tricked the boat!

Tim and pauline sailing the new skud to the finish of race 4 no dramas and getting closer to the top boats.

tim and pauline with their 3rd place bibs (which we had to give away after placing 4th and 4th today.

I am coaching at sail melbourne this year. I have been coaching tim in the skud for nearly 2 years now and we as a team with pauline have sailed 10 times. we are really happy with how things are comming along, our boat handling is better than all the boats . we need to work on our down wind angles in the light but things are comming along nicely.

looking forward to some more wind tomora!!

kings cup

2009-12-04T03:57:00.005+13:00

photo of us on tour on the layday

me giving a motivational speech at he crew dinner.

some serious sailing from burgo in the practice race.

my team and our new backpacker friends

Kings Cup 2009

we started this regatta in light winds muggy hot temperature ???

we kicked off the regatta in fine form taking the first race comfortably, we put this down to the practise we got during the Rajamuda regatta. It was good to come out firing and kick the regatta of in good fashion.

In the second race the breeze died down below 8 knots which is hard for us to preform with the heavy Benetau. We got really tangled up with phoenix an IRC'd quarter tonner, we avoided them shooting the top mark and protested, in the room they decided that they had not tacked within the zone so it was dropped.

Phoenix at the top mark have they tacked?

We then tangled with them again at the bottom mark as we came in on starboard and on the inside of them with room. We tangled up and flew the red flag again. We finished in 9^th for that race in the protest room we sent our female representative Gemma Farrell who put forward a brilliant case and took picking us up on results to 8^th.

In the third race we sailed better but still the light winds held us back we battled through and got a 4^th placing.

On day 2 we had a long race and headed around the bottom of Phuket island and up to the island called Koh Lon!! funny name.

We sailed a really tough beat as the tide started to push against us we had a big match race with madam butterfly again bouncing each other up the shoreline out of tide. We lost out with a tight lee bow and I decided to dip and take the right hand advantage, however the left was so favoured they crossed ahead of us bad call. From there It was follow the leader to the finish we took a little time out of them with two good shifts but then at the turning mark we picked up a fishing pot which stopped us dead in the water. We dropped sails, backed off the rope and carried on. Luckily it didn't cost us much as we came away with a second placing.

Race day 3 we had 2 windward leewards with 8-12 knots we liked the look of the forcast but the race committee wasn't happy with the 25 degree shifts rather than middle the 2wind directions they waited for it to drop and settle in direction. Much to my frustration the 8 knots again not really suiting us. Our game plan was to beat madam butterfly at all costs ignoring the other yachts in our division. The game plan worked out ok for us we beat madam butterfly on line but still behind on corrected time. In race 2 we sailed a perla and beat them. Placing 3^rd and 4^th

the party

we headed off to the bar bearing in mind that we had a lay day planned the next day we got stuck into the free food and drinks, a blues brothers band played and we danced until close then off to the fullmoon party at Karon beach.

We had a VIP area for the yachties with free refreshments and a massive dance party on the sand, kiwi vs aussie scrums which ended with 2 crook necks and a sore shoulder (2 injuries from the aussie side of the scrum and only 1 in the kiwi camp.

Myself Andrew Clouston and Kelvin Holdt making a pretty formidable front row.

I'm looking forward to heading out again tomorrow and taking this regatta out. We have a long race scheduled with 12-14 knots which will hopefully play into our hands.

geralda in 2 handed RNZYS series

2009-11-25T14:59:00.002+13:00

Putting the new gennaker through its paces the boat set out on a 2 handed windward leeward evening of racing with the squaddy. Im happy with how much water the boat throws around!!

Keep an eye out for Geralda in the comodores cup events, the route 66 race and plenty more wed night races as well as the odd coastal leg weather depending.

bring on some more 650 boats to race i say!!!

2009-11-17T20:38:00.002+13:00

2009-11-17T20:26:00.003+13:00

more pix from leg 2 form pangkor to penang. we had a pretty good race started in 25 knots witha good swell full mainsail and number 3 jib we stuck to the right of the rumb line to stay inshore hunting for a wind change that should ut us in front we watnted a land breeze.

a miassive rain cloud came over and killed the wind we then headed towards land using the paraent wind fromt eh tops of the waves to propel us toward the beach at .5 of a knot we got there first and managed to skip along in a light 5 knot land breeze putting us infront of our competitor except for one. we got our gennaker up and were doing 8 knots skipping along the mud flats with 3-4meters of water pretty scary sailing at times in unknown waters.

we ended up 2nd on irc in our class so really happy with the result

2009-11-17T20:14:00.002+13:00

more pix this time from leg 2 from pangkor to penang. we hadd a pretty good race started in 25 knots with a full main and number 3 jib we stuck to the right of the rumb line to stay inshore hunting for the wind change to a land breeze at night. the rain came and killed the breeze so we used the swell to push us towards the land doing 2 knots don each wave with no real wind but the aparent created from the swell. we hooked into some wind off the beach and stated to skim our way up the coast doning 8 knots under gennaker in 3-4 meters of water. bit scary at times.

we fisnshed in 2nd place on irc and were very happy with the result

2009-11-16T13:07:00.002+13:00

a windy rainy first leg of the rajamuda has given us a third placing on irc.

it was sooo wet we didnt bother to get the camera out untill prizgiving.

top photo of rich showing the silver wear and the bottom new team shirts. a piece of advice never post anything on your blog you wouldnt want printed on a t shirt.

sorry bex hahahahah.

geralda in training

2009-10-29T12:26:00.007+13:00

Here are some pix of geralda sailing on the waitemata harbour gearing up for the coastal classic.
in these images we are running the old mainsail.

it was 5 long weeks everyday after work (days that wernt raining) and solid days in the weekend to rebuild the mast step (thanks ian neely and buzz) and getting the boat up to cat 3 safety standard.

2009-07-13T20:38:00.007+12:00

Geralda the giant slayer!

This is my new boat and i did a 2 handed race on the weekend a 42 mile boost around the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland. We were the smallest boat in the fleet and notched up a 2nd on corected time!

A few little modifications and we hope to take out the next race.

Thanks to SSANZ for putting on a great race and to Andrew Clouston for a fantastic job as my crew and co helmsman.

leg 2 rajamuda pangkor to penang

2008-11-22T04:30:00.004+13:00

Leg 2 rajamuda pangkor to penang.
We started the race well winning the favoured pin end of the line, we timed our start to perfection and were the second boat to tack off and cross the fleet and start heading for the first headland. The wind was very light and the boat was doing a mere 3knots through the water.
We managed to keep her rolling and got into some nice wind a little further offshore.
We decided to stick to the rhumb line as the wind was building we thought that we could get to the next headland in time for the inevitable nighttime shut down of wind and switch to the land breeze where being stuck offshore doesn't pay.
A serious thunder cloud started to build up and we began to be affected earlier than we had anticipated, the wind increased and clocked around 360 degrees the rain came down in truck loads and the thunder heads crackled overhead.
As the storm passed over we were left with no wind and stuck a little too far out to see, one competitor the 2 foot longer super duper slipped through us but we were soon in hot pursuit. We chased them down under gennaaker and had a kids torch fight with them as we trained the beams on our gennaker to trim it to perfection trying to ease out every inch of speed from our boat. We managed to pull up behind them and started a luffing duel which they responded well to.
We cam back down onto course then went high again, once more super duper was up to defending her slim lead. So we came back to course this time only 5 meters from her stern. Without saying a word we gave each the crew the sign to roll over them one more time and this attempt was successful. Super duper was caught unaware. From here to the finish they sat on our windward hip not letting up an inch. The breeze softened and we were lifted as we came closer to the island of penang. This meant one more gybe into the finish line and a good result for the team. 3rd place on corrected time.

leg 1 rajamuda cup

2008-11-17T04:41:00.003+13:00

port klang to pangkor

We started the race in very light winds and alot of tide thankfully the 3 knots of tide was taking us in the right direction off the start line. it was a tricky start as if you were early you would have had little chance of returning to the line.

we had a really good start right on the pin thanks to blackies magic (nick blackman) on the bow we were heading our division up the coast not a great position to be in since it is our first time here and we were ussure about the famous fishing fleet here and how far their nets extend.

so within the first hour we witnessed 1st hand one of these nets. it got well caught around our keel and rudder and we were forced to use our newly crafted net cutter!!!

this proved valuable however i still had to divve in to chop the remaining clump free of the bulb. once this was done we got underway again.

the night was hard work as we changed between our jib and masthead gennaker, in the dieing breeze. untill 3 in the morning when things really shut down for the night.

we ghosted along doing between 0 and 2 knots through the water as the tide was against us for a long time.

as the sun started to shine through the haze of the malaysian coastline the wind picked up and we started to move in a nice little 10 knot breeze. as things started to heat up the wind died again leaving us 2 miles from the finish in a tide that was sweaping us right to left past the finish. we decided to head away from the finish line in order to stay uptide and give ourselves a better chance when the wind picked up. this tacktick worked out well and we picked off 5 places in the last hour off the 23 hour race.

our result for the hard nights work was 6th on corrected time, had we not had the issue with the fishing net we think the leg could have been ours for the taking. good local knowledge for next year.

keep posted for the next leg results. (should be a good opportunity for me as the owner stu has some work to do and the helm has been passed over to me.)

Rajamuda cup port klang (Kuala Lumpuar) to lankawi.

2008-11-11T02:32:00.006+13:00

( the boys doing the painting)

( the pile of rubbish that washes up at high tide unreal)

(But you can always find a good angle)

On the road again
I arrived in malaysia on the 8th of november was a clasic arrival to a new city.
My taxi got lost on the way to the hotel and It took 3 hours to get to my hotel. Oh the joys of travelling.
I got to the boat with my job list and started adding to it.
We are working on repainting the bottom as it was scarred from growth over the last yeear sitting in the very dirty klang harbour.
Its a very industrial area one of the main ports for malaysia and you should see the number of ships and crains on the water front.
The smells the heat, stray dogs walking around in packs thumderstorms downpours sunburn. This place has it all.
I have a great little room on the 12 floor of the crystal crown hotel great view I can see forever.
So its back to the boat in the morning I will be looking over our route plan for the race to lankawieand getting the boat ready for the crane as we get ready to measure the boat for our new irc certificate.
Will keep you posted.

Rajamuda cup port klang (Kuala Lumpuar) to lankawi.

2008-11-11T02:11:00.006+13:00

On the road again
I arrived in malaysia on the 8th of november was a clasic arrival to a new city.
My taxi got lost and It took 3 hours to get to my hotel. Oh the joys of travelling.

I got to the boat with my job list and started adding to it.
We are working on repainting the bottom as it was scarred from growth over the last year sitting in the very dirty klang harbour.
Its a very industrial area one of the main ports for malaysia. You should see the number of ships and crains on the water front. this is a very busy place.

The smells the heat, stray dogs walking around in packs thumderstorms downpours sunburn. This place has it all.

I have a great little room on the 12 floor of the crystal crown hotel great view I can see forever.
So its back to the boat in the morning I will be looking over our route plan for the race to lankawi and getting the boat ready for the crane as we are going to measure the boat for our new irc certificate.

Will keep you posted.

HSBC coastal classic 2008

2008-10-28T15:39:00.007+13:00

Coastal Classic 2008

(V5 sailing up the coast "only 1 coastal to go!!")

This year i did the coastal classic on V5. This yacht is a former TP 52 that has been modified with a canting keel. This is the boat that i competed on in the Fiji race this year and i have been involved with them since sailing in the Wednesday night series in Auckland.

In the build up to labour weekend we did a bit of training on the Hauraki gulf getting ready for spinnaker peels and Jib changes. Looking at the forecast we decided it was going to be an upwind race so we got the boat ready for upwind in 25 to 30 knots.

The start of the race was true to the forecast and we started with our heavy jib. The boat was going well pre start until the keel decided to stop canting due to some pretty flat batteries. (after the race we found a faulty fuse was the cause.) so we did the entire race using the emergency keel pump to get the keel ram to pump. Luckily for us the boat loved the conditions and our competitors started to fall by the wayside.

We were looking forward to some strong competition from our rivals wired and the new challenge from living doll who was here from Aus on their shake down race. unfortunately both boats left the race near Kauwau and we were forced to race the cats and the clock to pick up the handicap and line honors.

it was a tough sail with 20-25 knots and bullets up to 30 around the hen and chicks. the wind was shifting left as the weather system passed over New Zealand meaning the whole race was sailed upwind. we did about 9 sail changes and 3 false alarm sail changes between the heavy the number 3 and 4. Finally we got a spinnaker on in the dying breeze toward the finish line.

Our main concern was sababa who performs very well on the wind especially in this much pressure. and to add to the competition my little sister Rebekka Hielkema was on board running the bow. It was a nervous wait for me when we arrived in Russel. I was hoping that Rebekka (aka BEX) was going to be far enough behind to let us win on corrected time. however wanting her to arrive soon so i could celebrate her 21st birthday (Being now after midnight on the 25th October) I already had her present sorted and i didn't plan on letting her win the trophy instead of me. Time ran out for sababa but at least they arrived in time for me to shower BEX in champaign and to kick start a long weekend of partying and celebrations.

(sababa and V5 on dock in Russell)

(BEX! 21st birthday celebrations in Russell)

Moving on to LA

2008-08-29T04:29:00.008+12:00

I arrived in LA and was picked up by an old school mate of mine Ethan. We caught up over a quisedila in a little Mexican restaurant then headed for the Long beach yacht club. We had a training session planned with Scott Dickson.

Ethan was going to come out on the water and be our 6Th man and also take some footage of us sailing the boats. (credit goes to him for the images below.) We had a great session and were out on the water until the sun left us behind.

Ethan and i helped pack up then headed for the club house to meet Barbara and Jack (some family friends dinner. I Barb and Jack 2 years ago when i did the congressional cup and they have kindly offered to host me again during the regatta. And if you look at the image below have kindly lent me their mini which just happens to be my dream car, colour and all.

This is a pick of my wheels in LA kindly donated by Barb and Jack. (Thanks a million guys)
Practice day panama jack racing team chucks in a couple of tacks. the blond boy is our All American ring in Max Mooseman (great American name)
Great shot of the spinnaker up and set. Note how we matched our uniforms with the sails for this regatta (every little detail helps to win a race.)
Dave utilises his guns (aka muscles) to keep the big kite set "sheet on the womper!!")

Here is a good little video of a top mark rounding.

The regatta (the Ficker cup starts on Friday and finishes Sunday don't let the time difference let you miss the results.)
http://www.lbyc.org/html/content.cfm?CID=15004

match racing in New York

2008-08-24T11:04:00.010+12:00

I have been sailing with the panama jack racing team at the Knickerbocker cup.

check out the blog panamajackracing.blogspot.com

We have had a frustrating day, sailing well but not converting it into points. We made a few aggressive moves in high risk areas, this sets you up for a risky umpire call and they were not going in our favour.

After day 2 we had 3 wins 2 losses, today we added 1 win and 5 losses.

Not quite enough to make the top eight. So we will walk away from this one with lots of lesions learned.

Its a humbling experience and we are positive about the lesions, I think it will make us much stronger for the regatta in LA next week.

I also managed to waterlog my waterproof camera (not sure how that works) So i have a serious lack of footage and pix from this event.

Robbs in Brisbane

2008-08-04T22:39:00.003+12:00

Hey team I have landed in Brisbane getting the yacht "Belle" ready for Hamilton island race week.

We will be leaving here and delivering her to Hamo on Wednesday.

The wind is looking good 15 knots from the south west. 3 passengers on board, should be a bit of fun

phuket raceweek day 4

2008-08-02T07:45:00.003+12:00

Last day of racing the weather is settling down 10 to 15 knots and we have 2 new victims, will the succumb to the chunder from down under??

We had a great little course for the mornings race sailing between the islands we rounded channel markers off the Evason resort and further down the bay conditions were a little shifty but the breeze held its strength at 12 knots most of the day. We had a good first race which saw some technical manoeuvres by our team a good first set had us charging down the first run and caught up 2 places with an early gybe into the mark taking a nice wind shift and setting up nicely for a kiwi drop round the mark. again we headed upwind. At the final upwind mark the wind was in the right so we decided to do a gybe set with no spinnaker pole at the top. it all went smoothly the kite set we all looked up to see the logo on its side. the kite was hoisted on the clew not the head. the camera boat was snapping away and we all turned to our bowman. "Your shout tonight."

We quickly dropped it in the deck and switched the head for the clew and re hoisted the kite. second time lucky. it didn't cost us too much and we carried on to the finish with our tails between our legs but knowing we had sailed well apart from the one mistake.

In the afternoons race we had another windward leeward. the breeze was dropping a little 8- 10 knots. with our number 1 jib we were charging to the first mark in touch with the big boats. we felt sure that this was going to be our race. we sailed well changed gears when the wind was light and had great crew work. on the final run to the finish we had a dieing breeze below 5 knots and the clock was ticking against us. We had sailed so well and stayed so close to the bigger yachts in our division but it proved not good enough as we placed 4th in the final race.

The crew has come so far in the week. In the beginning they were asking questions about all manoeuvres and wanting to be told what to do all the time. by the final day they were making their own decisions jumping to attention to help out when others needed a hand and really using initiative to make the boat go fast. It was great to be apart of a crew that wanted to have fun and work hard to achieve a good result.

cheers endeavour of Whitby see you at the next regatta.

PS check out the jetty we had to contend with every day it caused some pretty funny situations as you could imagine!

phuket race week day 3

2008-08-02T06:48:00.007+12:00

My Internet went down at the hotel i was staying at in Thailand so I missed sending out news of the last few days of racing.

Day 3 was a beauty 20 - 25 knots and a decent swell started to cause havoc with the fleets. We began the day with a long race around the outer islands. We had a brilliant start but there were a couple of green looking team members right from the start. (didn't help that they had only had 2 hours sleep and were already looking green before hoping onboard.)

we worked the left side of the beat and managed to hook into some nice left hand breeze we tacked over to lay the first island on Starboard tack. At this stage one of the boys began to feel really sick he was on the windward rail and began to spew son the side of the boat. The big problem here was that the wind was at 18 knots and as the spew left his mouth the wind would pick it up and send it all over the crew. everyone left the rail in search of cover. We had 4 of us cowering on the floor of the cockpit in fits of laughter trying not to get covered in more stomach liner.

We slipped around the tip of the island and bore away to hoist our nice big A symmetrical Gennaker. We got it to the top of the mast and heated on, it cracked into life and the speedo roared up from 6 knots to 8 knots (wow you got to love keel boat racing for an adrenalin rush.)

the difference for an extra two knots being the boat is now leaning right over the loads double and we push twice as much water. So we had a lesson on heavy weather tight reaching. We worked on de powering the boat easing the main then the Vang and trying to send the bow down to decrease the angle of heel. hard work in a keel boat when the rudder looses grip with not too much warning. by the end of the leg we had really good communication and the boat beautifully balanced and under control.

we bore away to a down wind course downed the Gennaker and hardened up to round the marker and head off for the next island. it was a long port tack to the next island and we worked hard on boat speed to keep one of our rivals off our hip. We sailed well up past the island and hooked our Gennaker up one last time for a short blast to the finish. (it was one of those situations where the wind angle tempts you to put a kite up but its a boarder line call its tight your on a lee shore and the wind is gusty.) we decided to play it safe and take a little height first to give ourselves some sea room. after 2 mins we hoisted and had a shocker the kite didn't make it to the top, the jammer didn't stop the halyard and the jib came down all at once and we were heading for the beach. luckily the boys scrambled well and we got the jib back up spinnaker back down and we 2 sailed back into the finish. in hind sight it would have been good to stick with the jib. some times less is more especially in a short leg.

In the afternoon we had a short windward leeward race. It was a slightly skewed course pin end favoured long port tack beat, and a bear away set at the top mark. most boring course you can even imagine. But due to the simplicity we got the start we wanted and stormed away to a credible 3rd place. So it was another successful day with a 4th in the first race.

We headed back to the beer tent for some refreshments, a swim in the infinity pool, a cheeky chocolate thick shake. We couldn't hang around long cos none could wear their shirts due to the chunder marks down our backs so we took off back to our hotel to get changed.

Our team got a mention on the www.sail-world.com/asia website

'Angry Rob' Heilkema on Endeavour of Whitby said, 'it was the same course as yesterday, so we just made sure that we didn’t fall into same soft patches (but we still scored 5th both times). And it was really lumpy out there – there was a major ‘chunder from Down Under’ - and we had some pretty serious knitting problems. The afternoon race was a good deal easier, a windward-leeward with a pin favoured start and almost a fetch to the top.' Williamson’s office-wallahs scored 4th in race 6 to allow them to hold on to 4th overall, just one point in front of Toshio Furuta’s Mumm 36 Emma on 25 points (after a drop)."

A quote from the day before

"Right behind them was Stuart Williamson’s Endeavour of Whitby. 'We are very happy with our performance so far,' said Williamson. 'For a collection of office-wallahs with rather less experience than the division leaders I think were are making a pretty good showing!'"

race day 2

2008-07-26T13:39:00.003+12:00

Another great day on the water. Today we had a forcast of 15 knots from the west. we had a coastal course of around 25 nautical miles. we had a great start and headed upwind to the first of 4 islands we were racing around. We sailed the first leg very well staying ahead of the bigger yachts. We hoisted our big gennaker and headed off downwind.

the crew work was great and we got the boat rocking down the waves. We had a couple of little wipeouts at the bottom of the run but nothing too major. we rounded the last island and headed for the finish. We ripped the gennaker in the last hoist of the day but regathered to finish 4th.

In the 2nd race of the day we had a shockerstart almost hitting the commitee boat, then at the top we had spinnaker issues gybing issues and the breeze built to 20 knots. we never recovered and were lucky to hold onto 4th.

2008-07-25T13:21:00.000+12:00

Race day 1 in Thailand

We had good wind 15 knots to play with. My crew has done little to no racing ever and its my Job to teach them as we go.

We had an interesting first race slowly sorting out positions jobs and trying to get sails up and down without any damage.
we had a bad first race but luckily the first 5 boats did the wrong course so i think after the protest we will be doing quite well. we toughed out the second race and managed a 3rd place overall. we made lots of mistakes and are stoked with a third. if we can get around the course without any trouble we should be able to win the regatta.

We had a big night on the first evening here and all the boys were very hung over including myself. we forgot to take the lunches so you can imagine after 6 hours sailing how we felt.

a little more organisation and results will improve.

hope you are all having a blast. ill keep you posted

ps check out my website for more updates
www.robhielkema.blogspot.com

robbs pix

2008-07-23T15:43:00.004+12:00

2008-07-23T15:30:00.003+12:00

2008-07-23T15:27:00.002+12:00

Robbs in Thailand

2008-07-23T14:50:00.004+12:00

Well I'm here and what a fantastic place. its soooo hot and humid which is such a change from the kiwi winter.

Yesterday was a classic first day in a new country. I reset my watch and put it forward making the date wrong so i was thinking it was a Wednesday and took off to register us for the regatta. A 45 min taxi mission and 30 mins wondering around a strange resort to find race hq closed and a sign come back tomorrow.

I walked past a health spa they invited me in gave me a cool towel and let me have a look around. I wasn't so keen for a mud mask at this point so i headed into town Chalong bay to try and locate our boat.

I sat with some locals who called me a taxi, they invited me to go fishing with them that evening. random!! I declined and 1 hour later the taxi was still not there so i set off on foot. a tuk tuk driver saw me walking (bopping) along listening to the ipod and gave me a ride into town, it was much further than i thought and i would still be walking now if it wasnt for him.

I walked along the pier and was stopped by two Thai bankers who wanted a photo with me they then gave me a tour of the beach in their flash car which was hilarious to say the least. I remembered my mission and took off down the jetty. I found our boat and called out to Adek the captain to pick me up. (see photo) he rowed over to me with a deflatable with 1 oar against the wind, i was laughing my head off when he arrived and he had a smile in return.

We went over to the boat and had a look at all the sails and fittings, we serviced a winch that was full of old black grease and then dove into the water to clean the hull. I was not expecting the water to be warmer than the air but it was as warm as a bath no kidding. As we rubbed the bottom you got up a sweat underwater unreal.

Adek the skipper is from Malaysia and i don't think they had compulsory swimming lessons like i had a Westmere primary school. bear in mind he as sailed for 3 days to get to Thailand, so he rigs up a line from bow to stern donns a life jacket ties a rope round his waist and to the boat and leaps in to help me. He turns to me and says i can swim a little but i like to be sure that i wont float away. (legend)

Adek and i had a beer then took off back to the pier. He offered to take me shopping in Kata beach and then back to my hotel. We boosted off on the little motor bike, free for all roundabouts blind corners hills where you have to get off and push elephant crossing signs!! we saw it all. We stopped found some shops bargained for some cloths which by the way I'm really crap at i just want a price and to pay. i tried my best I got two shirts and a singlet for a great deal but the girl new it was a tough deal and you could tell that she was a little disappointed which made me feel stink then the next shop i went into i got some shoes still feeling stink i didn't barter so hard and this shop did well out of me and i still felt stink. lose lose situation! oh well on the positive side i got some mean cheap cloths.

We headed down to the beach to meet up with an Irish dude and 3 Norwegians. We had beers in a beach side bar with raster's smoking joints next to us and hundreds of people surfing right in front of us.

We donned our motor bike once more and headed for home. I looked up to see a massive Buddha under construction on top of the tallest mountain. I couldn't take my eyes off it, so massive what a feat. As i was looking on my hat came off in the wind. we stopped and turned round to pick it up. i jumped down from the bike swooped up the hat and saw a massive elephant in the bushes next to me. There was an elephant trek going on and i was so impressed to see this beast no less than 20 metres from me, a real elephant!!!

So that's the first installment from Thailand and i hope the adventures keep on rolling in. Today I'm off to register us (second time Lucky) and we start racing Thursday.

keep you posted from Robbs

Hullfish Yachting Sailing Timeline

2008-07-01T01:18:00.002+12:00

Sat 5 July Simrad 2 handed race (pied piper woodstock)
Sun 6th July Bucks winter series (elliott 7.9 radio active)

Sat 12th July Squadron winter series (Farr 40 psycho circus)
Sun 13th July Akarana winter series (elliott 7.9 radio active)

Fri 25th July Sydney to Southport yacht race

Sat 2nd August Simrad 2 handed race (pied piper woodstock)
Sun 3rd august Akarana winter series (elliott 7.9 radio active)

Sat 9th august Bucks match race (J24 match race yachts)
Sun 10th august Bucks match race (J24 match race yachts)

14th-21st August Airlie beach race week
22nd-30th August Hamilton island race week

6th September Simrad 2 handed final race (pied piper woodstock)

14th-21st September Japan cup

3rd-5th October NZ IRC nationals

25th October Coastal classic yacht race

2008-06-26T18:44:00.002+12:00

2008-06-26T18:15:00.000+12:00

2008-06-26T18:08:00.001+12:00

2008-06-26T18:03:00.000+12:00

Marine medical certificate

2008-06-26T17:37:00.001+12:00

robbs fivi race v5

2008-06-26T15:37:00.003+12:00

Robert Hielkema Sailing CV

2008-05-27T17:17:00.004+12:00

Ph: 006421 858897
Email: robhielkema@hotmail.com

Skills

Yachting
Yachting NZ club Coach
Splicing
Sail vision Sail
analysis
Sail making
Sports management
RYA offshore yacht master
skipper
General maintenance
Advanced sea survival (rorc/cyca)
Marine
medic certificate

My background
I am 24 years old born in Auckland New Zealand
From the age of 6 years I started racing dinghies at Wakatere yacht club in Auckland
I graduated from Takapuna Grammar School and started working for Team New Zealand in their sail loft for the 2003 America's Cup. This sparked a three way balancing act as I studied sport and recreation at Auckland University of technology and was accepted into the RNZYS youth training program. This kept me very busy and I learned some great time management skills and valuable experience in how to be a professional from an early age.
I am dedicated, friendly, easy going, consistent, relaxed, loyal and driven.
I am a hardworking reliable person who strives to achieve the best result in everything I do. Whether that is racing, delivering boats coaching or in my work. I love working in a team environment and I strive to get the most out of every situation in life.

What I see myself doing
I would like to take on a sailing position that allows me to use my skills in sail making and sail analysis to assist in the development of a sail program. I wish to be involved with a team that has similar goals to mine, sailing in offshore and inshore regattas with a view to succeed. I have developed some great skills over the past 6 years which I have highlighted below.

Skills in practice
Emirates Team New Zealand 2003 and 2007
• Sail analysis using sail vision
• Event management assistant
• Testing /race training on board NZL 68 and 82
• Sail making and repairs

RNZYS Lion Foundation Youth Training Program Graduate.
• This program came from the involvement of New Zealand in the 1986 - 87 America's Cup in Perth .Since it's inception over 20 years ago, over 350 young sailors have graduated, These graduates have continued to firmly stamp their mark on the international yachting circuit. (www.rnzys.org.nz)
• Youth program graduate Main sheet/Bowman 2002-2004

Bachelor of sport and recreation at Auckland University of technology.
• Papers in marketing, management, sport psychology, outdoor education and athlete development, anatomy, physiology, and Nutrition.

Sail NZ charter America’s cup yachts Auckland.
• Match racing, harbour cruises, sailing school, fit outs, maintenance, marketing, event management,. Sponsorship investigation.
In the last 7 months I have Started a business as a Yachting contractor working under the name Hullfish yachting.

My goals
To compete in the Fiji race, Melbourne to Vanuatu, Newport to Bermuda, and LA to Hawaii offshore yacht races.
To compete on the world match racing circuit.
Win the worlds best fleet racing regattas Melgies 24, Farr 40, Etchells Swan 45 and Mumm 30 worlds. My goals for the future are to win the Volvo ocean race and the Americas cup, and to coach at an Olympic level

Achievements
Rolex Sydney to Hobart, Fastnet and Middle sea races (All as watch captain)
4 time National champion fleet racing wins
19 international match racing events
2 Handed round north island of New Zealand 2008
1st Rolex Sydney to Hobart PHF Ocean Skinns (Ingles 47)
1st New Zealand Keelboat nationals Auckland November 2006
1st Auckland to Russell coastal classic race Cookson 50 Pussy Galore 2006
1st Skandia geelong week tactician Ocean skins 2008
1st Buckland beach match race regatta 2008
1st Loaded Hog Cup match race regatta
1st Pied Piper national champs 2006
1st Monaco classic regatta Dennis Conners Cotton blossom 2 2007
1st PHRF 2 handed round Waiheke island as navigator
1st PHRF Coastal classic 2006 pussy galore (cookson 50)
1st Round white island Race Cookson 50 Pussy galore 2006
2nd grade three Hardy cup Sydney 2007
2nd Airlie beach regatta (Hydroflow) 2004
2nd New Zealand Keelboat nationals Auckland November 2005
2nd Cannes classic regatta Dennis Conner's Cotton blossom 2 2007
2nd Les voiles des ST Tropez Dennis Conner's Cotton blossom 2 2007
2nd Ranger trophy long race series
3rd Finland grade 2 Match race Finland 2007
4th Congressional cup grade 1 match race 2007
4th Warren Jones youth regatta Perth 2005
4th Match race Gdansk Grade 1 Poland September 2005
4th on line Auckland to Fiji race May 2006
4th IRC bay of islands race week 2007 (Pussy galore Cookson 50)
4th IRC Airlie beach regatta (Pussy Galore Cookson 50) August 2006
5th IRC Hamilton island regatta (Pussy Galore Cookson 50) August 2006
5th Warren Jones international match race 2008
16th Hamilton Island race week (Seahawk) 2004
Maxi world cup Sardinia Italy (Grand Mistral 80) September 2005
Melgies 24 European champs Hamburg Germany 2007
Soling British champs Blyth England 2007
Skandia Cowes week TP52 St James place 2007
Sailed with Team New Zealand aboard NZL 81, 82 and NZL 68 in training and testing.
Sailed onboard Maxis, Konica Minolta, Lion New Zealand, Grand mistral 80 and Maximus.
Pitman / trimmer / bowman for KIWI MATCH Match racing team

Coaching experience
10 years coaching experience
Assistant club instructor @ Wakatere boating club
Waterwise instructor 3 years.
Sailing have a go instructor 2 years
Learn to sail and race coach at royal Akarana yacht club
Learn to sail and race coach at Bucklands beach yacht club.
Royal new Zealand yacht squadron youth training program volunteer coach
Kauwau youth training week coach 06 and 07 (Fleet racing)
Private coaching for Briar Hutchinson during the laser radial world champs 08
Coach of German women’s match racing team 08 World champs in Auckland.

2008-05-27T17:13:00.000+12:00