Q&A with new member Sebastian Hultin (Stella Polaris)

1. Why did you join Middle Harbour Yacht Club?

I was looking for a sailing club in Sydney and my wife eventually found MHYC through Google. On the last Thursday night of the 2019 Twilight, I turned up at the club. The club was buzzing and everyone seem to be having such a great time.  Despite being terribly busy, both or Sailing Administrator (Catherine Rolfe) and Membership Manager (Christine Roberts) were able to spend time with me to explain the sailing and membership at the club. I joined that night.

2. Tell us a little about yourself and how you got into sailing.

My father Goran was active on the Finn circuit in Finland on a National and International level pre the 1980 summer Olympics. He just missed out on the Olympic Squad selection (he has a good story on this) that year. After this, he competed in STAR boats and Offshore racing in the Baltic Sea in Swan boats (38 and 40 feet).

I started sailing in Finland when I was about 7, however when we moved to Switzerland as a family and I traded sailing in for skiing.

Dad interrupted his competitive sailing largely due to us kids. He coached us in both dinghy and yacht sailing. Myself, my siblings, and many of our friends crewed for him on cruising holidays in the Mediterranean, Aegean, and Adriatic seas. It should be noted that he did not just like to go cruising, but was very keen to get us to trim the boat properly to go faster.

I studied medicine at Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital in London and then worked both in Switzerland and Australia as a resident. We moved to live in Australia permanently in 2014. I had wanted to get back into sailing but as a medical registrar, could only sail casually due to work commitments on weekends.

My wife Mimi loves cruising and my kids love the boat. My eldest son Max is 5 and at the moment is happy just messing about on our boat and on the beach. I do no want to push him too soon, but we are hoping that in the future in getting into the club’s Youth Sailing program and learn to sail on the club’s Optis.

3. Why did you buy Stella Polaris?

I started becoming a burnt out working as a physician full time, so decided that it would be great to buy a yacht to sail casually around Sydney Harbour. I had not anticipated going into yacht racing.

We found Stella Polaris (formally known as Luna Sea) at Drummoyne. When I looked at her, she was definitely a racing boat and I thought it would be a crime not to race her.

We only subsequently found out about her illustrious career. She was originally the famous yacht AFR Midnight Rambler who won the disastrous 1998 Hobart race. The fleet was hit by the unexpected “weather bomb” off the coast of Australia. Instead of trying to manoeuvre around the storm AFR Midnight Rambler chose to head directly into its path. After battling mountainous waves and hurricane force winds, the diminutive 35-foot boat arrived safely in Tasmania. The crew was awarded the coveted race trophy, the Tattersall's Cup. She was the smallest boat in 10 years to win this iconic race.

I was also successful in roping my dad Goran into sailing the boat. I am in charge of most everything when tied up, however he is the skipper in charge once we hit the water.

4. This is your first boat and as boat owners know there is a steep learning curve. How is the support from the club been?

Although she was well looked after she was showing her age and we found out she needed a bit of work. There was some delamination in the hull and the deck needed repainting. We also modified her slightly to be a bit more comfortable for family cruising and even put in a fridge!

I was not that experienced working on boats, but have had some great advice from fellow members in the club.

Mitch White at the time was doing up his own boat, Plum Crazy and offered some great advice. He and our rigger Dion Hart also helped redo the rig. With a bit of advice from them and Billy Sykes (North Sails) we have simplified the rig and moved the jib setup.

There has been a huge support network from the club and some interesting positive constructive input from several members including Matt Pyne, Phil, David and the rest of the racing committee. I cannot recommend the club high enough. Even dad (who has been involved with a number of clubs across the world) said, it is rare to encounter a club like this.

We are nearly ready to rock and roll.

5. What are your current and future plans for the boat?

We have been sailing in some of the MHYC Winter Sprints and Pursuit races with mixed results.

At the moment we are building up the crew. The boat is doing well in the upwind legs, but we need more spinnaker work practise downwind. What we win in the beats, we lose in the downwind legs. In Pursuit races particularly, we have made a few spinnaker mistakes and sometimes have trouble recovering, but we are working on that.

In summer we are looking to do the MHYC Inshore and Short Ocean Race Pointscore races. Then, after we build up a more experienced crew, the following season we would like to get more into ocean racing – maybe also competing in the Ocean and eventually some of the Bluewater races.

6. Are you looking for crew? If so what sort of people are you looking for and in what positions?

Our current core race team is quite a a rooky team, but all are very excited and what we lack in skill, we make up in enthusiasm. At the moment, we are not assigning permanent roles. People move positions each week to build up their skills which enables them to feel more comfortable on the boat.

Catherine Rolfe and Vice Commodore Geoff Charters who introduced me to Deborah Dalziel (MySail) have all been a great help with finding crew. Bob Cox from Nine Dragons also came out for one race to provide advice on how to get the boat running.

We are not looking for crew who just want to sail casually. What we are looking for is people who want to commit more permanently and be part of our team. Once this core team is established, we will train to become ocean race ready and even to go to sail her in the Hobart once again.

7. What is on your Bucket list to do/achieve in sailing?

Ultimate aim to is to race her on the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race with a good regular ocean crew, unless Gosford to Lord Howe restarts!

Read more: Q&A with new member Sebastian Hultin (Stella Polaris)