Growing trees

With only a month to go till the great race accross the unforgiving, unpredictable Bass Straight to the Scallop Pie capital of Australia, there is maxi boat teams engaging in wallet jousting events up and down the eastern Aussie coastline in an attempt to be first to the pie shop!

With the notable absence of the past controversal record breaking goon bag for this year's race, a secret sunfish breeding program has been discovered off the southern NSW coast, which has sent shivers up the spine of a super maxi about to be relaunched just north of the border!

These monsters of the deep show their presence every few years, breaking appendages and notably repeatably singling out a Victorian super maxi in the past to the extent of ripping its keel clean off on one occasion, in reportably an un provoked attack from these silent moist assassins!

The massive 2 handed fleet that is assembling have been warned to keep vigilant, whilst not travelling anywhere near the speed of their high dollar Maxi competitors, they have been asked to not get distracted by any war movies till they reach the safety of the Derwent River!

Who or what is responsible for these mass numbers of menacing schools off Bermagui?

Rest assured, Growing trees has its finger in the pie on the ground to bring any updates that come to hand!

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Just days away, the 27th running of the Elliott 7 Intergalatic Drain Race, hosted by the QCYC with help from SYC with starting the internationally watched event on Queenslands Gold Coast!

This annual event has attracted entries from not only the sailing mecca of Brisbane's southside suburb of Wynnum, but this year from Brisbane's north, and even a rumored late entry from the far north in crock country, Port Douglas! All in an attempt to keep the Mighty E7's from claiming the Intergalatics top prize for another year, as was done by the 7's big brother Fusion the 780 in the 2019 event!

A lack of sportboats this year, could see the E7's spearheading the race for linehonours of Queenslands most prestigious long distance drain race! Late entries still accepted so get a wriggle on and try your hand!

With a forcast of northerlies having crews state wide hitting the gyms for last minute workouts, a snippet of a past winners hiking form of this great race has surfaced which has crews hitting bottleo's for training weights and a bit of ticker!

If not racing, grab an esky, a picnic blanket, watch the fleet majestically meander through the goldcoasts drains, viewing from 'Sovereign island', 'Jacobs Well', 'Steiglitz' and "Cabbage Tree point boat ramp' for the land lubbers and groupies who follow the fleet to Sandgate!

Oh and wackermarans will be an added hazard over the 50 mile inside course!

Catch ya's all on the race track!

(News just in, the handicaps have been posted, congrats to the clear winers chosen this year)

The 2019 Elliott 7 Intergalactic Drain Racing Championships has been run and won, in conjunction with the Queensland Cruising Yacht clubs annual Surf to city yacht race!

A day of ups and downs for everyone, Growing Trees had representatives on both the leading E7's, with the Barney Army crew taking the win by 4 and a half mins over the Geronimo boat! And for one of us being a crew on both boats over the years, my first loss to another E7!!!! Sad day indeed! ;-)

It took two starts to get us all clear, Geronimo over on second start, had to re round, but got their lucky ticket for the day 3 mins later with a gust to get us up to second E7, by Curan Cove Geronimo was leading E7, and by Jacobs, 3rd on line overall after finally getting through of the 30foot asso square running Gizzmop!

Jacobs well had Geronimo claim the Elliot 7 fishing contest, after spooling a live aboards fishing tackle and subsequently towing a bream along behind the boat!!!! Fish was undersize, so was thrown back!

A farreast parked on the beach just past power lines, could actually still be stuck there!

Then the Barney Army's get out of jail card was pulled at Canipa, they took advantage of a massive lift and wind shift, which the inexperienced helmsman on Geronimo after swapping over briefly due to the owners recent giving up drinking and rumored turning Vegan had to remove some toxins down the back of the boat, Barrrrrrf!!!!!!

That was it, Barney Army wasn't to be caught, for the next 4 hours just slowly edging away, talk on the street was this part of the race the professional maxi yacht crew on the Army, with his ability to make it look like he is drinking but actually stashing said drinks for later is yet to be confirmed stepped up!! Uneventful trip home from Peel, the leading Shaw getting past the 2 E7's after 7.5 hours of racing! Looks like the class E7's still have the edge over the out of class boats, carbon rigs and rudders at moment seam to slow this highly tuned boats down!

Another awesome days racing, on the magic little E7's, in one of the Qld racing calendars great events the Surf to City! A couple of relaxing drinks at the QCYC bar after just to top it off! And for the record, the Growing Trees admins have voted the bar staff, some of the tidiest in the moreton bay yacht club scenes! So everyone back at the bar after the race in future eh!!!!

(Short clip from Geronimo in full serious mode!)

This time next week, dusk the 9th of Feb, there will be the latest Intergalatic Elliott 7 drain racer champion crowned! (Southeaster pending) The QCYC's Surf To City is the event they will be competing in!

After the controversial win by Australias most used E7 Gerronimo, with its ageing amateur crew taking the win, and prize if there was one!

This year, the 143rd running of the intergalatics looks to be a cracker event, with 6 E7's entered so far, and the Hottest fleet ever assembled for this event, the pinnacle of the E7 world calendar!

The team here at Growing Trees, has just unearthed this secret training video (below) of the most victorious E7 of them all in this event, the mighty Barney Army! This year they have once again been labeled the ones to beat by the bookies with their pro crew, and tour-de-france veterans onboard! While 'Barney Army' has never been beaten by another E7 in this event when it has finished, the competition this year is slick, but they have the runs on the board and the valuable experience of dominating the Me Off crew, which seams like an eternity ago!

Pac Man, after a saturday of the st Helena cup where it was substantially faster than all others with its very young, light crew! If its light, and the kids ipads dont run low, they will be hard to beat!

Another serious contender this year is the brothers on Easy Rider, with their professional sailmaking crew fresh from Americas cup duty, they will be right up there! Whilst there is also an E7 with a carbon rig racing, we will count him in this time, but that new fancy exotic hightec mast material will never catch on, whilst not class, he is still looking to beat a class boat!

Geronimo of course will be there to try and attempt to hold the title, hoping for another 'Steve Bradbury' performance like last year from its aging crew, 2 having to be replaced due to injurys for this years running! The owner even going to the lengths of abstaining from alcohol consumption for this years event! Mwah ha ha ha i bet his crew isnt!!!!!!!

So even if your not sailing this year, get your self down to Cabbage Tree Point, grab a yatala pie on the way, and watch some of the worlds best sailors (and bullsh****rs) racing their Elliott 7's past at breakneck speeds, oh, and a near record fleet of other sh****rs as well making the numbers up!

Good luck guys and gals!!!!