FIAS - Frog in a Sock

The original plan was to have a crew of two, Kav and Justine, and then we rescued Jaffa, but with the ginger blob's untimely demise, the crew roster has been revised.

Kavin:
Although not starting to sail until his father got hold of an old hartley TS16 back in 1981, he has taken to sailing like the proverbial duck :) Over the next few years he crewed on his father's boats. Once he started working he bought a Spiral dinghy (an early copy of the laser design) which he sailed around Sydney harbour on a number of occasions and was generally a menace to shipping around Gladesville as he taught himself to sail solo on the Parramatta river.

Between 1981 and 1987, Kav was a regular crew member on his father's boats, during both social and club racing events. His father sold the Hartley to buy "Serenade" a Southerly 23 in 1983 and then "Sarnia" the Holland 25 in 1987.

After joining the Air force in 1987, opportunities to go sailing were few and far between, although the chance to compete against the Army School (in Bendigo? - not too sure it was quite some time ago) in 420's and 490's was a welcome break from studies at the School of Radio at RAAF Laverton in Melbourne. It wasn't until being posted to HMAS Cerberus on the Mornington peninsula in 2001 that Kav's love of sailing was rekindled. Whilst at Cerberus, a bit of formal training was undertaken, the YA TL4 Competent crew, Inshore skipper and finally Coastal skipper before being posted to Adelaide in 2006. In the 4 years at Cerberus Kav managed to rack up close to 7000nm in, not only the Navy Swarbrick S111's, but as crew on assorted civilian vessels in Westernport, Port Phillip and Bass Strait.

Managing to clock up 3 Melbourne to Launceston, 3 Melbourne to Stanley races as well as the odd Queenscliff to Hastings or Apollo bay he saw a wide variety of conditions on Bass Strait, from mirror calm (breeze? we're sailing aren't we?) to 60+ knots and 5-7 metre seas where a dog would have been lucky to stay on a chain. Progressing from sheethand/foredeck to helm and watchleader before skippering a Swarbrick on a number of shorter ORCV races, it was all a great learning experience. In December 2004, an attempt at doing the "West-coaster" in a civilian boat was cut short after having had a 40 foot yacht airborne for around 6 seconds. While the airborne part was peaceful, the landing was a little rough and broke 2 of the port spreader supports. With several of the crew violently seasick, the skipper decided that discretion was the better part of valour and turned with the wind and sea to head for the safety of Westernport.

Kav met Justine in 2001 and they were married in 2005. Kav passed on his dream to Justine, and they have been working towards the dream together, with the minor detour of building a house.

Since returning to Melbourne and discharging from the ADF, Kav has realised a dream and finally purchased his own yacht with the intention of doing at least one lap of Australia sometime in the future. Kav is upgrading his qualifications through having done the Coxswain Course and undertaking the RYA Yachtmaster program with the intention of converting his experience and knowledge into a position within the Maritime industry.

Justine:
Justine grew up in Port Pirie, joined the Navy at 19 as a Steward and has seen some interesting people and places as a sailor on many of Her Majesty's Australian Ships. Kav is constantly regaled with new and interesting stories from Justine's 20 years in the Navy, many of which were spent at sea. Although no stranger to life at sea, Justine is used to vessels a little larger than FIAS' 30 feet.

Since meeting Kav in 2001, she has accepted Kav's dream to own a yacht and do at least one lap of the country. Supporting him in his endeavours and joining him in them when she can, she has been, and continues to be, a great partner through thick and thin.

Shadow:
Following the demise of Jaffa, a new crew member was rescued from an uncertain future at the RSPCA Pearcedale premises. Shadow is a 12 month old Grey/Tortoise shell coloured ball of energy. She is yet to get her sealegs, she is still getting to know us and the house, so a trip on the boat will have to wait for a little while yet.