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MONDO MATES

Often referred to as a drinking crew with a sailing problem, MONDO is powered up by the wonderful beer of the Green Beacon Brewing Company. Alcohol is limited on MONDO to one drink a day while racing so we only drink the best. and once over the finish line we celebrate with green beacon all natural beers. During 2017, MONDO raced at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week and Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race with the tag “WINDJAMMER” after the famous Green Beacon India Pale Ale.  Team meetings are always at the old shed in Helen Street, Newstead which is now the home of Green Beacon Brewery. And yes there is clearly a nautical story behind the brewery name.

Ray Sweeney.

In the fifteen years of the MONDO sailing adventure, OX aka Ian Davis has made the MONDO sails. Along the way he has quietly imparted expert advice and wisdom that has been invaluable on our racing program. In 2011 OX joined the MONDO crew for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. During this race OX taught me the only safe way to prepare wraps for lunch when the boat is being thrashed by strong headwinds. Take all the ingredients off the galley, onto the sole and sit there with your back jammed against the mast while your feet are strong on the galley. You cannot fall and your hands are free to make gourmet wraps to your hearts content.

Ray Sweeney.

Home base for MONDO sailing is the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron (RQYS) at Manly Queensland. The sailing adventure all started at an end of year development industry party when the then commodore Kevin Miller wandered over and said that I should buy into a corporate sailing group that he was promoting at RQYS. I did and MONDO has been racing all over the East coast of Australia ever since. RQYS hosts the annual Brisbane Keppel Tropical Yacht Race that gets MONDO into the tropical zone for August and the Hamilton Island Race week. 

Ray Sweeney.

The first MONDO was one of the six FARR 36 footers that RQYS put together for the corporate yachting program. This was the beginning of a huge learning program for me on a great little yacht built for the match racing lead up to the Americas Cup defence in 1987. I had always thought of myself as a sailor, however, when I did the math I had to accept that the nautical self image did not match the hours on the water. Acquisition of the Sydney 38 OD allowed the testing of sailing ability in the One Design arena and most importantly a yacht capable of  doing the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. We sailed MONDO Sydney 38 OD in the 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2017 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Races with conditions from benign to savage and the yacht always felt safe and fast.

Ray Sweeney.

Four times we have taken MONDO to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) ahead of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and it has always been a great experience because the Race office and the Marina Management teams are par excellence. How good is this. Within a couple of days of berthing at CYCA ahead of the 2017 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the Race Office presents me with a trophy from the 2013 race that I had neglected to collect after that race. They had kept it in the office for four years waiting for me to show up again. A great surprise for me because I had completely forgotten about that trophy.

Ray Sweeney.

CREW

I could not understand solo sailors until I embarked on the MONDO sailing adventure. Arranging crew for a race and then maintaining them during the race is a science on its own.  On our first ever race to Gladstone we started with seven crew. By the Fairway mark at Caloundra, the two most experienced crew members who had never been sea sick were disabled and confined to bunks. Old salts and young guns land on the boat with big reputations and are found to be wanting in skills and experience. Great people also step on board and rejuvenate your faith in sailors.

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