The Yachtsman 2017-2018 The Yachtsman 2017-2018 | Page 42

R PAY C A C T I V I T I E S
R PAY C A C T I V I T I E S
AUSTRALIAN SAILING AWARDS

RPAYC Shines at the
2017 Australian Sailing
Awards
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YA C H T S M A N R PAY C
C
ongratulations to our own,
Thomas Spithill, Australian
Coach of the Year! Well-
deserved for his passion,
dedication and support of
sailing. Congratulations also to Natasha
Bryant and Annie Wilmot, named Australian
Female Sailors of the Year - fantastic effort!
RPAYC Members, Dan Fitzgibbon OAM,
Liesl Tesch AM, Kay Cottee AO, Phil
Smidmore OAM and Colin Beashel OAM
were inducted into the Australian Hall
of Fame.
K AY C O T T E E
J
une 5th, 2018 was 30 years ago
that aboard the 37-foot yacht,
Blackmores First Lady, Kay Cottee
conquered more challenges than
many of us face in a lifetime, and
in doing so, she became an inspiration for
generations to come. Alone at sea for 189 days
and 32 minutes, she sailed back into Sydney
Harbour on 5 June 1988 having logged
22,100 miles (or 35,566km) at an average
speed of 116.93 miles per day. The voyage
was completed without touching land, and
without any form of outside aid apart from
radio contact. What an inspiration!
Kay has been a member of the RPAYC
in excess of 30 years and is now an
Honorary Member.
Thirty years on, Kay Cottee, now Kay
Sutton (in the end she married Peter who
owns the Yamba Marina where there’s lots of
boats) has crossed most of the world’s oceans
and is soon to cross another.
She has now settled in Yamba, looks after
Joy, now aged 94, works on her boat, makes
wooden furniture and has a 24-year-old son,
Lee. From the moment she returned, her life
changed she says.
“From the moment I stepped off the boat
I was a public person and I found that a bit
hard to deal with,” she said. “I am a pretty
private person. A year later I became Mrs
Sutton. Ian didn’t want to take part in what
my life had become, and I needed support.”
She has raced across the Atlantic with
Marcus Blackmore, delivered a boat through
the Panama Canal to Tahiti and crossed the
Indian Ocean.
“I have been busy, but we recently decided
to cross another ocean. We are looking at
going to New Zealand via Lord Howe Island.
I will certainly avail myself of every modern
navigation gizmo, but Lee is desperate for me
to teach him celestial navigation.”
The circumnavigation wasn’t easy going.
Off the Cape of Good Hope, she encountered
mighty seas in what was believed to be winds
of more than 100 knots. The boat was surfing
down 60ft high waves and she briefly went
over the side attached by two harness lines.
The boat, on its beam, somehow swept her
back aboard.
All that and she did most of the navigation
with a sextant. She did have one of the first
satellite navigation aids - the only problem
was that 30 years ago there weren’t that many
satellites in orbit upon which to get a fix.
Now, having caused her mother some
anxiety all those years ago, the shoe is on the
other foot. Her son is into mountain biking
and rock climbing. “Yes, I worry. He is like
me - hyperactive with not much fear to go
with it.”
On the anniversary she, as usual,
worked on her boat, a Moody Eclipse 43,
and then in the evening went out to ‘a very
nice restaurant’.
Those meals concocted from out of a
tin and dried pasta for 189 days were but a
distant memory.

Kay Cottee –
30 Years Ago
Blackmores First Lady, Kay
Cottee conquered more
challenges than many of us
face in a lifetime
R PAY C YA C H T S M A N
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