Sailor Spotlight (Mick Guinea & Viv Haydon) F18

I would like to introduce the two newest members of the Team Harken Racing crew.
From Townsville Queensland we have the F18 team of Mick Guinea & Viv Haydon.
Down the track Mick is going to send a few photos of tricks and tips for the Nacra Infusion F18 but if you see him on the beach up in Queensland go up and say G'Day and he will be more then happy to talk boats and even sell you one.
Below is a little insight to what makes them tick.

Harken Sailor Spotlight

Name: Mick Guinea & Viv Haydon

Age: Mick 30, Viv 21

Home Town / Club: Townsville Sailing Club

Class: F18, we also race on Wayne Millar’s MBD41 “Zoe”               

Years Sailing Class: 5 years in the F18 class

Favourite song: Mick: Pockets by Powderfinger. Viv: Hard Sun by Eddie Vedder

Favourite food: Mick: Chicken Parmy. Viv: A good steak

Favourite Place to Sail: Cleveland Bay Townsville

Most Rewarding result (where & when): Winning our first Nacra F18 Nationals together this year in Adelaide and 10^th in 2011 at Texel in the Nacra Worlds.

Why this class: The F18 is a high performance boat where you can race, and compete, against the world’s best sailors with a big budget.

Funniest moment on boat: The look on Viv's face at Texel last year, when in big waves and 25 knots I got washed off the back but continued steering whilst trying to barefoot water-ski back to the boat.

Who do you sail with (training partners): We have a big fleet of F18s in NQ currently, so we are regularly sailing against many boats, however we train mostly with Dale Mitchell from Airlie Beach.

Why Harken: The highest quality products that work and the constant innovation of new products.

Favourite Harken product: The 10:1 mainsheet system we use. (HC7668 & HC8454)

Goals: In the short term we are aiming for a top 20 finish at the F18 worlds at Long Beach, to defend our Nacra National title and a top 3 finish at the F18 Nationals.

Closing Comment: Multihull Sailing is about to boom again over the next few years. With the Nacra 17 in the Olympics, the AC cats and the Extreme 40s there is so much interest in the sport at the moment. I encourage everyone to get out on a Cat of some sort and get involved – you wont regret it!

Viv & Mick @ the Townsville Sports Awards

I have to say I do like Micks closing comments, it is very true that multihulls are going to become a bigger part of everyday life for sailors worldwide. We all need to embrace it and enjoy the ride.

Welcome to the team boys.