It's light winds and we were fourth around the outside harbour mark. We have completed 7 head sail changes so far and first watch crew is down below for some sleep.

John

Nearing 1 hour to the start!!

Hi Everyone,

We are out in the harbour and nearing an hour to go before the start! Very exciting and cheer us on for a victory! And go Australia with the cricket today.

John

Race Day !!!!

Time is 7.20 am and we are all to meet at the Vibe Hotel for Brekky as a team before we set off on the Rolex Sydney to Hobart !

Conditions right now do not look that good, but we are optimistic of our overall chances of winning the race.

Will tap in again soon and remember we still need the largest crew in the world so get this link out to your friends www.yuuzoo.com/jointhecrew

Ron Creevey

The night before the race

Its Christmas night and the big race is tomorrow, for us this is the time we get to spend like every other Australian with your families. We will aim to get to sleep early and I will be up at 5am to get my day underway.

I will first go and spend an hour taking a walk to think about what lays ahead, the day and the 1pm start of the greatest ocean race in the world, the Rolex Sydney to Hobart.

As a team we are ready, line honors will be tough but we know we are in with a fighting chance, most Australians love the underdog, well let me present you the Aussie underdog - The YuuZoo ! we do also like our chances of winning the overall race honors, and this is something we are keen to win (along with line honors)

From tmmrw I will post of the adventure all the way to Hobart, in 1 meter or 10 meter swells ! so for everyone have a merry christmas ! and until tmmrw good night.

Ron Creevey

Testing Testing Testing

This Hobart is so different to all the ones we have raced before, this time not only do we have to work as a professional race team on how we prepare a SuperMaxi for the Sydney to Hobart we also are making sure The YuuZoo is technically ahead of all our competition.

The interaction with the YuuZoo and the general public will take sailing globally to a new level, and you know what, we are all so happy to be apart of what we feel will one day become the standard for every crew in this great race and other races the world over. We have had to make sure all the cameras are working, the data feeds are perfect, all technology on board set the right way.

Think of this, you can follow us not only through Blogs, Twitter, Facebook - You can watch us on YouTube, Webinars and no doubt all TV feeds around the world - How cool is that ! This is media working perfectly the way it should be - Welcome to The YuuZoo !

Ron Creevey

Tomorrow we race the SOLAS Big Boat Day

So far all is going to plan, we have had some testing times with the team but nothing that you would not expect given we are less then two weeks to race day.

On Tuesday we race the SOLAS Big Boat Day, which for us is great time to enjoy ourselves and let the other Super Maxi's bash each other on the harbour. We have come a long way as a team to get ready for the Sydney to Hobart and many things can go wrong with a Super Maxi and we would have no time to fix any issues and potentially miss the main event ! So as a team we will spend the time getting used to boat and more importantly each other.

The crew have all raced many Hobarts with many different scenarios out there - We always say as a crew in the Big Boat Racing Team - You have to reach Hobart to win it ! and right now that is our primary goal.

The boat will officially launch on Wednesday and we will race to Hobart as YuuZoo !

Ron Creevey

Long Day's

Today has been one of those days surrounded by promises, none of which generally are met - what world are we living in these days !

Anyway, the boat last night had a group of young kids visit, imagining themselves tackling a pumping Bass Straight, to see a group of six year old boys eyes light up was satisfying for the crew - lets face it they may be racing in 12 years themselves !

Right now all is on track, and we are hopeful of no major issues as we approach the final four weeks to race day. But as we all know that is never the case, and you need to factor time in for the unforeseen ! as we all say, its better to tackle that monster pre the race instead of him popping in on race day. Our facebook site is gradually gaining traction and also is Twitter, from December 10 we plan on really lifting the profile and start promoting the boat, its sponsor, mission and visions.

Tomorrow I will get photos of the boat with full rigging loaded on the blog !

Ron Creevey

She finally hits the water !

Today the Tokolosh (her real name) is finally settled at the famous CYCA in Sydney - the home of the Sydney to Hobart.

Craig Molouf and Dave Witt have worked around the clock to get the boat ready, and now have the mast and rigging to be connected for her to complete and ready for the race. At this stage we have had no problems with the boat preparations and the management by the team of this process has shown that triple checking all potential issues well in advance makes for a great preparation. The boat is now painted a dark blue, which we think adds a ton of class and will make the boat stand out a little more on race day.

Next week we aim to launch her 100% to the public, fully completed, rigged up and all corporate logo's attached.

We are gaining momentum now on Twitter and facebook, next week we launch with YouTube a dedicated channel where everyone can view multiple videos, plus live footage during the race.

Ron Creevey

Train Hard

Its that time now where the training needs to be picked up considerably to ensure we are all running at our peak fitness. I have been doing over 10 Km per day for the past four months and now will add one hour of weights per day. 

Alcohol intake is greatly reduced and we need to ensure no injury or illness creeps in. All people who race in the Sydney to Hobart have there own way of prepping for the race, with SuperMaxi racing fitness and strength is vital given the dash can be hard and fast and the physical demands high. Not that this is not also required for all boats, as it is - With Maxi racing we just blast to Hobart, with the handicap racers they are out there a lot longer then us and truly are incredible with the dedication year on year. I would love to race for handicap in a few years if I ever get the chance.

This year will see the seven fastest SuperMaxis in the world competing, we just want to be compete against them all, so we need to do everything we can as crew to ensure that we bring 100% to the race. My role is to manage the technical aspects of the boat, but I am still required to pull my weight equally when it comes to time on deck and moving equipment around the boat. Thats what makes Ludde Ingvall's plans so grand, he looks at what each and everyone of us bring to the team, how we help win it and how we make sure all the sponsors of the boat and event get maximum bang for there buck.

Ron Creevey

Just met with Ludde in the city to discuss how we want this project technically to flow. We not only will be announcing major global partnerships over the coming week - But we both now want everyone to be a crew member of the boat.

We are going to target to have over 500,000 crew members for the start of the race - Imagine actually being able to communicate live with all the crew, watch the moves and cheer them on. We want to take "Maxi Sailing" to the masses, sailing is a sport that everyone should enjoy and we have a boat that you can all enjoy and learn from.

Ludde is a a two time winner of the Sydney to Hobart, and will be explaining to all crew members what we are doing, what he wants to do and the eventual strategic decision. 

Very cool

Ron Creevey