Yachting Australia

Day One - Cadet World Championship

Warm sunshine, but little wind greeted the competitors on the opening day of the 2004 Cadet World Championships in Adelaide, South Australia yesterday. An attempt to get a first race in before lunch was aborted as the wind faded, but fortunately over lunch it gradually built to a solid force 2 from the South.

The first race saw all of the seven strong British contingent heading out to sea in search of more breeze, but this proved not to be a wise choice with the inshore path paying dividends. First around the windward mark was Yannick LEFEVRE (BEL), followed by Manuel BOLOGNA (ARG) and the European Champion Petr FIALA (CZE).

The second race got underway in a strengthening Force 3 breeze, and the British sailors were now back in the groove. At the first mark Autralian Pat HUTTON narrowly led from GBR8415 Will RUSDEN / Matthew DAVANZO and GBR8420 Jodie & Stevie GREEN. By the second Mark Will & Matthew had taken the lead which they went on to build to well over a minute by the finish. Behind them the racing was close with James RUSDEN temporarily taking second place before falling back into the chasing pack and leaving Jodie & Stevie GREEN to finish second with Tom MAKEY and Jonathan KIMBER finishing in 5th place.

Full results will be published at www.adelaidesailingclub.com.au

Spectacular start for Strathfield Pittwater Coffs Race on Sunday

After four days of strong southerlies and heavy seas battering the 60^th Rolex Sydney to Hobart fleet, there could be more strong winds for the 24^th Strathfield Pittwater Coffs Race, which starts on Sunday.

Another complex coastal weather system could deliver 15-20 knot southerlies for the race start off Barrenjoey Headland. If that happens the 60 boat fleet will enjoy booming down wind sailing and with the best fleet in the history of the race, the 2003 race record could easily fall.

But with a new spectator friendly course, even if there is a southerly blowing, spectators from Barrenjoey down to Palm Beach will see the fleet under spinnaker, as they sail in towards Palm Beach.

Bob Oatley’s old Wild Oats, now Targé  set a sizzling time in her 2003 race. It was a new record of 18 hour 29 minutes and 14 seconds and this year his new Wild Oats and Steven David’s Targé will be out to set a new record.

If conditions are strong enough and the weekend weather forecast is pointing that way, the July 2004 launched Wild Oats could still complete the new extended course in 16-18 hours, arriving as early as 6-8am on Monday morning.

Targé, with the highly experienced Pittwater crew, lead by master helmsman Iain Murray should be close behind, as should Vanguard, considered to be one of the faster fixed keel 60 footers on the planet. Andrew Short Marine, the Volvo 60 that was fifth placed boat in the Hobart race, down near Flinders Island, when she was forced to retire with gear damage has raced back for the Coffs start.

For race news as it happens www.rpayc.com.au or www.sail-world.com/coffs2005

Nips-N-Tux wins IRC Division C Seriously Ten takes Volvo 60s

Post-race hearings by the Race Committee and Protest Committee this afternoon have not changed placings for the two Rolex Sydney Hobart Race yachts involved in the hearings.

The Protest Committee granted Michael Spies two minutes redress as a result of confusion at the start on Boxing Day, which saw him return and restart with his Beneteau 44.7 First National Real Estate, although officially there were no individual recalls by the Race Committee.

The two minutes redress did not change First National Real Estate’s second placing in IRC Division C with first place going to Howard de Torres’s IMX 40, Nips-N-Tux on corrected time by a margin of just under 54 minutes.

The Race Committee penalised the Volvo 60 Seriously TEN one hour under Rule 30.5 of the Sailing Instructions after receiving a declaration from the boat giving reasons for missing a number of compulsory radio position reports. This penalty did not affect Seriously TEN’s first place in the Volvo 60 division nor its current provisional first Overall placing in the PHS division.

Seriously TEN, owned by John Woodruff and Eric Robinson, won the Volvo 60 trophy from Nokia and DHL-Getaway Sailing.

Under a prior agreement, Adagold Aviation, a sponsor of the Grand Soleil 46 getaway-sailing.com, which unfortunately retired from the race, flew the protest committee from Sydney to Hobart this morning on a BeechJet-400 aircraft to hear the protests.

Although heavily committed to the tsunami relief efforts, Adagold Aviation was honouring arrangements to support the CYCA in the event of a protest.

“Our aircrafts are transporting equipment and personnel to affected areas and soon we will be despatching heavy lifting freighters to Indonesia,” said Adagold’s business development executive Barry Graham this morning.

Adagold flew the protest committee back to Sydney this afternoon.

Meanwhile with 20 boats still at sea, only seven are expected to finish before midnight, leaving 13 boats celebrating the New Year in Storm Bay,  along the Tasmanian East Coast and even back in Bass Strait where the last boat in the fleet,the 31-footer Gillawara owned by Canberra-based yachtsman David Kent is stil 285 nautical from Hobart, with an ETA of 3 January 2005.

The Melbourne yacht Dream Venture, skippered by Alexandra McKinnon,  has broken her mast off Pt Hicks on the Victorian south-east on her back from Eden to Port Phillip.  The skipper advised Race Control that everything was under control and the boat was motoring through Bass Strait.  However,  Race Committee chairman Tim Cox said the yacht's position would be monitored until it reached a safe port.

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It takes a bit of chutzpah to win the Sydney 38 division in Rolex Sydney Hobart

Melbourne yachtsman Bruce Taylor, the winner of the hotly contested Sydney 38 division of the 60^th Anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, says he is starting to learn to take risks.

Taylor steered Chutzpah across the finish line one hour and one minute ahead of the next placed Sydney 38, Team Lexus, because he came into the Tasmanian coast early while his rival stayed offshore hoping for a wind shift that never came.

“The south-easter that everybody planned to use on the bottom of the island just didn’t eventuate and I think that’s caused some people some grief,” Taylor said.

Arguably no other division in this 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart has been as hotly contested as the one design Sydney 38 class.  These boats have become enormously popular and eleven of them left Sydney to make their own race-within-a-race.  For Taylor that added an “intriguing” new element to the race.

“Normally we’re racing the clock but this time we were specifically racing other boats,” he said.  “At one stage sliding down the New South Wales coast we looked out the companionway and there were six Sydney 38s lined up.  We thankfully were about two hundred metres in front of them but it was just a great sight.” 

Of course not long after that the southerly gales hit them and scattered the Sydney 38s over Bass Strait. 

“We’ve got this theory that if you have a good delivery trip up from Melbourne the race will be a bummer.  The trip up we put the spinnaker up at the yacht club in Williamstown and took it down at Sydney Heads so we sort of knew we could be in for a bit of a hammering

“This is a big boat for us, a bit of a luxury cruise compared with our previous, smaller Chutzpahs.  We found it hard but not that difficult.  We’re all getting older, the bodies a bit more knocked around. Twenty years ago the guys were all looking for wives when they got here and now the wives and children are waiting here looking for them.”

This is the fifth Chutzpah Taylor has campaigned in his 24 Rolex Sydney Hobarts, and this win extends his remarkable record of six earlier divisional wins.  He has also finished in second and third place overall, but again that precious first overall has eluded him. 

Taylor thinks he is getting there though. He is learning to back his hunches more and put his boat in places on the course he would not have dared when he was younger. 

“If you want to win a Hobart you really can’t be conservative,” Taylor says. “The first few years we just sailed very logically and conservatively but its evident that somewhere down the track the guys who win take a flyer. 

“We always finish in the top ten but the guys who win sometimes come thirtieth, but then they just pull off a stunt occasionally and we’re starting to do that.”

Third place in the Sydney 38 One Design division went to Another Challenge,  sailed by the youthful Team Melbourne Uni with Chris Lewin as skipper.

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British yacht confirmed as Overall Winner of Rolex Sydney Hobart

British yacht Aera today became the third British and twelfth international Overall handicap winner of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in the 60 year history of the ocean classic.

The Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club Martin James announced the Overall IRC placings at a public ceremony outside Hobart’s historic Constitution Dock which saw Aera’s owner Nick Lykiardopulo presented with the historic perpetual Tattersalls Trophy and a Rolex Yachtmaster watch. 

Aera,  a Jason Ker-designed 55-footer, races under the burgee of the Royal Yacht Squadron in England and  was skippered by prominent English yachtsman Jez Fanstone.

“This is truly the Everest of yacht racing,” said Lykiardopulo whose first Rolex Sydney Hobart was in the tragic race of 1998 with his previous Aera,  a Swan 46, which won its handicap division.

“We compete to overcome the challenge of the sea, but we also respect it every competitor and yacht in this race is a winner.”

Aera placed first Overall and first in IRC Division A, beating the Line Honours winner, Ludde Ingvall’s Simonis/Voogd-designed 90-footer Nicorette by 4 hours 26 minutes 46 seconds on corrected time.  Third place went to Ichi Ban,  owned and skippered by CYCA director Matt Allen, 1 hour 36 minutes back on corrected time.

Aera’s skipper Jez Fanstone said the win gave him great satisfaction but that sharing the experience and a few drinks at the end with “these 15 other blokes” was more important.

“We had a great boat and a great team,” said a typically understated Fanstone when asked what got the boat through the rough conditions in this year’s race.

“The 600 mile races are tough because you never get into any rhythm and you never get any rest.

“We did the preparation and let God hand out the prizes.”

Perhaps crewmember and local Tasmanian David Stephenson summed it up when he said that a Rolex Sydney Hobart was “30% crew, 30% boat, 30% luck and the rest is bits and pieces.”

The first British-owned yacht to win the race was Rani, skippered by Royal Navy Captain John Illingworth, in the inaugural race in 1945, while Edward Heath, who was to become Prime Minister of England,  sailed Morning Cloud to victory in 1969.

Other international entrants to have won the Rolex Sydney Hobart on Overall handicap were: Rainbow II (NZ), 1967 1969 Pathfinder (NZ), 1971 American Eagle (USA), 1972 Ceil III (Hong Kong), 1973 Kialoa II (USA), 1977 New Zealand (NZ), 1980 Atara (Ireland), 1991 Raptor (Germany), 1994 and Beau Geste (Hong Kong/China), 1997.

In addition to the Overall Winner and IRC Division A placings,  Commodore James announced the winners of other handicap and one-design divisions decided by this morning’s event, these boats were  also presented with their Winner’s burgees:

Overall and 1^st Division A:   

Aera

Owner Nicholas Lykiardopulo, Skipper Jez Fanstone

Royal Yacht Squadron, UK

IRC Division B:                     

Loki

Owner/Skipper Stephen Ainsworth

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, NSW

IRC Division D:                     

Courtesan

Owner/Skipper Philip Childs

Hilarys Yacht Club, WA

IRC Division E and 30-Year Veteran Division:     

Love & War

Owner Peter Kurts, Skipper Simon Kurts

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, NSW

Sydney 38 Division: 

Chutzpah

Owner/Skipper Bruce Taylor

Royal Yacht Club of Victoria, Vic

A minute’s silence was observed at the presentation in remembrance of the victims of the tsunami disasters in Asia, a tragedy that has touched many in this ocean classic who know too well the power of the sea.

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Vendee Globe Day 54: Skandia starts to count down the degrees of longitude

RACE POSITIONS 0930 GMT: SKANDIA 7th, dropping back to 560 miles from VIRBAC as he sails away in the storm. Nearest competitor behind, excluding PROFORM, is ARCELOR (Joe Seeten), 547 miles to the west.

Nick’s quote of the day: ‘It was great to cross the Dateline, puts you in the right frame of mind to finish. Before that you really feel like you are half way around the world and going backwards. Now, I feel I am just get closer and closer‘

RACE UPDATE DAY GOING IN TO 54th DAY

SKANDIA HANGS ON TO WIND LONGER THAN EXPECTED: But Nick is likely to fall out of the back of the low pressure system ahead of him shortly. This same system, a 1000 miles to his south east, is giving VMI, TEMENOS and VIRBAC a real pasting. TEMENOS reported 50 to 55 knots of wind this morning, and even the vastly experienced Dominic Wavre explained that he was in ‘survival mode’. Nick is in a relatively complex situation between a high pressure system to his north east and two areas of low pressure...one way or another the next Southern Ocean depression will swing along at some point and take him with it to the east, Cape Horn some 3,500 miles away.

LEADERS EXPECT TO BE AT CAPE HORN MONDAY: BONDUELLE continues to hold a substantial 194 mile lead, and second place PRB has re-extended his lead on EECOVER to 85 miles as Golding is forced to gybe to the north east.

THE PITSTOP UPDATE: VM MATERIAUX still working away in his little bay in the south east of Tasmania, repair work nearing completion. Marc Thiercelin had ‘the worst 48 hours possible’ as he made his way in steep seas, but light airs, towards Christchurch (east coast of NZ) where he will make a decision as to whether to accept external assistance or not (which would disqualify him from the race)

RENDEZ-VOUS WITH GLOBAL CHALLENGE FLEET: Nick was quite happy to hear that 300 miles on his bow are the Global Challenge fleet, themselves racing round the world the ‘wrong’ way (east to west, against the prevailing winds), on their way to Wellington having just cross the Southern Ocean from Cape Horn. This pay-as-you-go race for Amateurs is run by the Challenge Business, so if following Nick inspires you to have a go yourself, albeit in a slightly tamer kind of boat, then check out http://www.globalchallenge2004.com. We hope to link Nick up with one of the Global Challenge boats tomorrow by Iridium.


OC SAILING TEAM UPDATE: Nick’s team mate ELLEN sailing in to more moderate conditions, over 2 days ahead of record http://www.teamellen.com

EXTRACTS OF AUDIO CONFERENCE WITH NICK courtesy of Geolink/Iridium:
To listen to full audio : http://www.ocftp2.com/audio/vendee2004/nm301204a_uk_e.mp3

‘Breeze has dropped off a lot, but its not that bad, we are still moving. It will get lighter and lighter until I fall out of the breeze...

It was great to cross the Dateline, puts you in the right frame of mind to finish. Before that you really feel like you are half way around the world and going backwards. Now, I feel I am just get closer and closer.

Awesome to have the [Global Challenge] fleet out here – I have company from a safety point of view. It’s a great race and I have great admiration for the crews and Challenge Business’


SKANDIA DATA LOG 0930 GMT: data brought to you by BT Business Broadband, transmitted via Thrane&Thrane
LAT/LONG: 48 41 S / : 175 54  W south east of NZ and just over 100 miles to the International Dateline
WIND: 15 knots from the NW

POSITIONS 1000 GMT 30th DECEMBER 2004

BOAT / LAT / LONG / distance to finish

1. BONDUELLE, 55 33.28' S / 106 28.04' W, 8323.3 distance to finish
2. PRB, 55 27.48' S / 112 53.32' W, 8517.8 distance to finish
3. ECOVER, 56 00.84' S / 115 30.72' W, 8602.8 distance to finish

7. SKANDIA, 48 40.88' S / 175 54.24' W, 10815.2 distance to finish

For full positions report go to http://www.nickmoloney.com and follow the positions link

Forty-footers fail to displace Aera in IRC Overall standings

As smaller boats continue to finish the grueling 628 nautical mile Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the British yacht Aera tonight still leads the IRC handicap standings in the 60^th anniversary ocean classic.

One of Aera’s primary smaller boat handicap rivals,  First National Real Estate, skippered by last year’s Overall winner Michael Spies,  crossed the finish line off Hobart’s Castray Esplanade at 6:11:50pm on a balmy Hobart summer evening.

However, neither First National nor the other leading 40-footers, Nips-N-Tux and Chutzpah, made a dent in Aera’s standing on the provisional IRC corrected time result.

Big boats dominate the top placings with Aera, a Ker 55 owned by Nick Lykiardopulo from Royal Yacht Squadron in England, provisionally leading the IRC standings ahead of line honours winner, Nicorette, the Simons/Voogd 90 owned by Sydney-based yachtsman Ludde Ingvall. 

Aera is now provisionally the 12^th overseas yacht to win Australia’s great bluewater race – appropriately a British-owned boat, Rani, won the first in 1945 and now, in the 60^th race, victory appears likely to go to another UK boat in Aera, skippered by English yachtsman Jez Fanstone for its London-based owner Nick Lykiardopulo.

In provisional third place is Matt Allan’s Farr 52, Ichi Ban, the current Australian IRC champion, while fourth is AAPT, Sean Langman’s Andy Dovell-designed Open 66.

The classic 31-year-old wooden boat Love and War has no prospect of displacing Aera despite her low rating (handicap), but is ranked fifth overall in computer calculations.  

At 7.00pm tonight she was sailing across Storm Bay,  29 nautical miles from the finish with the seabreeze in Storm Bay and the Derwent River expected to fade after sunset.

Officially, the Overall Winner of the Tattersalls Cup and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race will be announced at a public ceremony outside historic Constitution Dock at 11.00am tomorrow.  The 60-year-old Tattersalls Cup and a Rolex Yachtmaster watch will be presented to the owner/skipper of the Overall winner.

Winners of the various handicap and one-design divisions will also be announced and the skippers presented with the traditional burgee to mark their success.

The severe winds and seas that battered the 116-boat fleet over the past two-and-a-half days have abated so much so that many yachts were becalmed in Storm Bay this morning until the southerly seabreeze arrived.

Throughout the afternoon, from 12 noons through to 7.15pm, 12 more yachts finished the race enjoying easy spinnaker runs up the river to joining eight boats that crossed the line yesterday and during last night.  

The total finishers by 7.15 pm stood at 20 boats with the first Tasmanian yacht, Craig King’s Interum crossing the line at 7:12:14 pm. 

The rest of the fleet is spread from Storm Bay to just 50 miles south of Gabo Island on the southeast tip of the Australian mainland, where the little Gillawa still has some 340 nautical miles to sail.  Her ETA is 5 January 2005.

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Complete change of weather at Hobie Championships

Day 3 at the various Hobie championships at Sail Melbourne was in complete contrast to yesterday and Day1, which was abandoned due to high winds and seas.

The sun came out on Port Phillip Bay today, the breeze was light, there was little swell, just the short sharp chop that is often in evidence on the Bay.  The mood was good amongst the competitors at the host venue, Port Melbourne Yacht Club and off came the winter woollies. 

Mark Laruffa and Dave Silvester (Vic) continued their assault of the Hobie Tiger Championships after today’s four races.  The pair scored two 3^rd places a win and a second today for a marginal lead of four points over Olympian Darren Bundock and Alexandra Goltz (NSW).  The latter pair went 2-1-2-1 today.

‘Yes, Bundy is the one to beat, we have to shake him, the others that were at the top had mixed results today,’ Laruffa said.

A talented sailor who has lived all over Australia and in Papua New Guinea, 44 year-old Laruffa started his career late at age 21.  He owns at least three National Hobie 16 titles and had scored numerous second and third placings at World Championship events.  ‘Yes, too many seconds – I’m after that elusive win,’ the 44 year old commented after sailing today.

Back on track for a tilt at the title, Laruffa says, ‘I’ve sailed with lots of different people, but Dave is the best to sail with and we’re going to the Tiger Worlds next year.  It would be great to win one.’

Recent good results that bode well for his and Silvester’s worlds campaign include a third at the F18 Worlds in Italy, followed by a win at the F18 German national championships.

Of today, Laruffa said it was tactically challenging.  ‘We got around 12 knots in the morning, but this afternoon it had died and got a maximum of 8-10.  The wind oscillated and there were a lot of pressure changes.  You really had to concentrate,’ he explained on coming ashore.

Neville Thompson/Shamus Stevens (Qld) are third placed in the Tigers with 24 points.

In the Hobie 17 Worlds, Aaron Worrall (Vic) is the outstanding player and his results today, which included winning the two afternoon races, put him on 13 points, eight points clear of second placed Dan Kulkoski (USA), whom Worrall knew would be a threat from Day 1. 

Backing Kulkoski up, fellow American, Greg Raybon, also fancied for the title, is third overall, just five points behind Raybon, with defending National champion, Ron McDonald (Vic) just two points away in fourth.  This will be a fight to the finish.

Brad Sumner/Belinda Walkom (NSW) remain unbeaten and have a huge lead in the Hobie 18 Worlds.  They are 23 points clear of their nearest rivals, Josh Newman/Jackie Gibson (NZL), whose best result today was a second place.  Brothers Richard and Michael Quinn (AUS) are third, just two points behind second place.

In the Hobie 16 Australian and Asia Pacific Championships, world champion, Pamela Noriega/Andrea Mier Y Teran (MEX) firmed their chances in the Womens event, winning three out of four races to take an eight point lead over Belinda Zanesco/Karen Todd (AUS).  They managed three 2^nd’s and a third place, but have been unable so far to beat Noriega.  Naomi Angwin/Fiona Douglas (AUS) are third, but eight points away from second place.

In the Youth non-spinnaker division, current world champion Jerome Legal and Clement Merzeau (FRA) has been outstanding, winning all four races today.  Second place also goes to the French, with Brice Pelen/Elliot Carpin second placed, but are seven points behind and will find it difficult to play catch up.  Chris Hancock/Haylee Williams are waving the banner for Australia in third place.

In the Youth spinnaker division, Taylor Booth, son of Olympic champion Mitch Booth, has taken the lead away from Evan Walker/Kyle Langford in a tie break situation.  Sailing with Bridget Waterhouse, who comes from a sailing family and is a seasoned sailor in her own right, Booth managed to do today what he wanted to do yesterday he won all four races to be on equal 10 points with Walker/Langford, showing the sailing pedigree is in the blood.

This will be a good tussle as the series wears on and third placed Jake Lurati//Richard Kirton (AUS) will have their work cut out to get back into contact with the top two, trailing them by 13 points.

In the Masters, Kerli and Ali Corlett (NSW) have outsailed their fleet so far and three further wins today puts them eight points ahead of second placed Bruce Tardrew/Sarah Turnbull (Qld), with Grahame Southwick/Claire Fender third, just five points behind team Tardrew.

Provisional Results:

Hobie Tiger

1  Mark Laruffa/Dave Silvester             (AUS) 11      
2  Darren Bundock/Alexandra Goltz     (AUS) 15    
3  Neville Thompson/Shamus Stevens (AUS) 24      
4  Andrew Keag/Sam Reid                 (AUS) 26    
5  Mal Gray/Adrian Fawcett                  (AUS) 39      

Hobie 17

1  Aaron Worrall     (AUS)  13
2  Dan Kulkoski       (USA) 21
3  Greg Raybon      (USA)  26
4  Ron Mcdonald     (AUS) 28
5  Matthew Burgess (AUS) 34

Hobie 18

1  Brad Sumner/Belinda Walkom   (AUS) 7
2  Josh Newman/Jackie Gibson   (NZL) 30
3  Richard Quinn/Micheal Quinn   (AUS) 32
4  Geoff Fiske/Sarah Hollands     (AUS) 44
5  Gordon Barrett/Jenni Duthie    (AUS) 49

Hobie 16 – Youth Non-Spinnaker

1  Jerome Legal/Clement Merzeau      (FRA) 8
2  Brice Pelen/Elliot Carpin               (FRA) 14    
3  Chris Hancock/Haylee Williams       (AUS) 20
4  Seb Eyssartier/Maxime Cardarelly  (FRA) 25
5  Michael Peterson/ Barney Johnson (AUS) 33

Hobie 16 – Youth – Spinnaker

1  Taylor Booth/Bridget Waterhouse (AUS)  10
2  Evan Walker/Kyle Langford      (AUS)    10
3  Jake Lurati/Richard Kirton          (AUS)    23
4  Jonathon English/Kurt Griffiths  (AUS)    29
5  Tobi Gibson/John Bange             (AUS)    36

Hobie 16 – Womens

1  Pamela Noriega/Andrea Mier Y Teran   (MEX)  7
2  Belinda Zanesco/Karen Todd             (AUS)   15
3  Naomi Angwin/Fiona Douglas                (AUS)   23
4  Kathy Kulkoski/Judy Raybon              (USA)   28
5  Jesse Dobie/Danielle Pascoe                 (AUS)   38

Hobie 16 – Masters

1  Kerli Corlett/Ali Corlett                       (AUS) 7
2  Bruce Tardrew/Sarah Turnbull        (AUS) 15
3  Grahame Southwick/Claire Fender    (FIJ) 20
4  Murray Peterson/Katie Peterson      (AUS) 26
5  Allan Pitts/Chase Lurati                     (AUS) 34

Full results, pics and more can be found at the official website:  www.sailmelbourne.com.au

Schenker Australia provides logistics for world’s best sailors

Sail Melbourne has attracted some of the best sailors from around the world to compete on Port Phillip Bay.

In December 2004 and January 2005, Sail Melbourne will host more than 25 sailing events, including three World Championships, the Olympic & Invited Classes Regatta for Olympic sailors, several Regional Championships and a host of Australian and World Championships.

Schenker Australia, the official logistics provider for Sail Melbourne, is coordinating the worldwide shipping, customs clearance and delivery for this event, from around the world to Melbourne.

Kevin Wood, Sail Melbourne Management Committee Chairman, says: ‘Through our partnership with Schenker Australia we are able to provide especially our international participants with logistical support ensuring safe and on time transportation of their precious sailing equipment.’

Sail Melbourne is known by sailors for the great sailing conditions prevalent on Port Phillip, the spirit and enjoyment with which the event is conducted, and the professionalism of its race management teams – all of which are amongst the best in the world.

Entries have already been received from a range of countries including Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Noumea, USA, Singapore, Mexico, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Ron Koehler, Managing Director Schenker Australia/New Zealand said: ‘Events like Sail Melbourne require specific sport logistics knowledge and competence. The SCHENKERglobalsportsevents team, with experience ranging from Olympic Games to World Cup Soccer, understands the precise logistics requirements from of athletes, visitors, media and co-operating partners and can ensure the success of an event like Sail Melbourne.’

SCHENKERglobalsportsevents are working on many sailing events around the world with a skilled team in this field Schenker is looking to be the market leader in logistics services for all major sailing events.

Schenker Australia was established in 1962 in Sydney and provides a complete range of international air and sea freight forwarding, and integrated logistics services from its premises in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and a subsidiary office in Auckland, New Zealand.

Calms after the storm strengthens Aera’s IRC handicap chances

Fading winds on the Tasmanian East Coast and in Storm Bay have strengthened the British yacht Aera’s grip on the Tattersalls Cup, the famous trophy awarded to the Overall IRC handicap winner of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

With 50 boats still at sea and eight finished, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia will not officially announce the Overall winner of the Tattersalls Cup until tomorrow morning.

This will be at a traditional public function alongside Hobart’s Constitution Dock at 11.30am when the winners and placegetters of the various IRC and PHS handicap category divisions will be announced.  However, some results will still be provisional as many smaller and slower boats will still be at sea.

Aera, owned by London-based yachtsman Nick Lykiardopulo and skippered by England yachtsman Jez Fanstone, finished in fourth place in the fleet yesterday afternoon and currently heads the provisional IRC Overall standings ahead of line honours winner Nicorette (Ludde Ingvall) and Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban which finished last evening.

It has been a frustrating morning for that part of the fleet off the Tasman East Coast and in Storm Bay. For example, the Adelaide yacht Hardy’s Secret Men’s Business rounded Tasman Island at 12.30am and gave an estimated time of arrival in Hobart as 6.00am. She did not round the Iron Pot and enter the Derwent River until nine hours later at 9.30am.

In contrast to the gales that lasted two-and-a-half days and forced half the fleet of 116 starters out of the race, yachts racing down the Tasmanian East Coast are sailing in starkly contrasting conditions this morning, with winds of just 6 to 10 knots.

Only eight boats have finished – the Farr 65 Maserati, skippered by Ian Potter, crossed the finish line just before 2.00am this morning. Four more yachts have rounded Tasman Island to enter Storm Bay – Hardy’s Secret Mens Business, Dekadence, Loki and Austmark. 

The 31-footer Gillawa, now the smallest boat still racing, is at the tail of the fleet in northern Bass Strait, still with 372 nautical miles to sail to the finish.

Any yachts that last night were considered to have a chance of beating Aera on IRC handiap,  have faltered with the dying breeze.

Aera, a Ker 55, heads IRC Division A, Loki, Stephen Ainsworth’s Swan 48, is leading Division B, Michael Spies’ Beneteau 44.7, First National Real Estate (NSW) leads Division C, West Australian Philip Childs’ Farr 38, Courtesan heads Division D while Peter Kurts’ classic S&S 47,  Love and War (NSW) heads Division E and the 30-Year Veteran Division.  In the PHS Division, the Volvo 60, Seriously Ten (John Woodruff and Eric Robinson) has finished and heads the handicap status.

Meanwhile, the supermaxi Skandia, which capsized on Tuesday after losing her keel, is under tow by a sea-going tug, which is heading for the fishing port of Lady Barron on Flinders Island in Bass Strait.

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Many trophies still to be decided with 55 boats still at sea

With only seven boats so far finished the grueling Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, just one trophy winner has been decided, with 55 boats still at sea racing for various Overall and Divisional handicap honours in the 60^th anniversary ocean classic.

Ludde Ingvall has already been presented with the Illingworth Trophy for taking Line Honours with his 90-footer, Nicorette, but the other major perpetual award, the historical Tattersalls Cup, and all other handicap results remain to be determined.

Currently at the top of the leader board for IRC Overall honours is the British yacht Aera, owned by Nick Lykiardopulo and skippered by Jez Fanstone.  Aera also heads IRC Division A. 

Aera displaced Nicorette from the top of IRC standings when she finished this afternoon, but her status as Overall Winner is not confirmed with several boats technically having a chance to beat her, include Peter Kurts’ veteran Love & War, Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki and Howard de Torres’ Nips-N-Tux.

Loki heads IRC Division, based on positions at 8.50pm this evening, while Nips-N-Tux is ranked number one in IRC Division C.   The original Wild Oats, which won the IOR division and Overall first place in the rugged 1993 race, heads up progressive handicap results in IRC Division D. Former Tasmanian Howard Piggott is skippering the boat.

Love & War, a two-times Overall Winner (1974 and 1978) is well placed to win IRC Division E and also the 30-Year Veteran Division.  The Tasmanian boat Pippin (David Taylor) heads up the 20 Year Veteran Division.

Peter Rodgers’ She II heads the PHS Division from the Volvo 60, Seriously Ten (John Woodruff and Eric Robinson) which finished in fifth place in the fleet this afternoon, also winning the Volvo 60 trophy.

The Overall Winner of the 60^th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht, the Overall placings and the Divisional Winners and placings will be announced at a traditional public function outside historic Constitution Dock on Friday morning.

Tonight only seven boats are berthed in Hobart, leaving 55 still racing, with 54 having retired since the 628 nautical mile ocean classic started on Boxing Day, 26 December.

The severe weather of the past 50 hours is abating but the fleet still has to beat into fresh southerly winds in Bass Strait and down the East Coast of Tasmania.

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Lots of wind and waves for Hobie titles at Sail Melbourne

With the first day of racing abandoned yesterday in the various Hobie National and World championships on Port Phillip Bay on the first day of the Sail Melbourne Regatta in Australia, the 91 crews were put to the test today.

Organisers packed four races in back to back on Day 2, not only to catch up the schedule, but because excessive winds were predicted for the afternoon – and they came.

Weatherwise, it was not quite as nasty as yesterday, but winds did gust to 30 knots on a lumpy and choppy sea as the first races got away at 10.30am this morning.

Some competitors had trouble leaving the beach at the Port Melbourne YC hosted event today, as the wind came straight into the beach.

As the day progressed, the weather actually got better.  The sun came out and the breeze, although shifty with gusts, chop and swell, eased of to an average 16 knots.

As the wind eased, fewer competitors returned to the beach for repairs, but it was a tough day’s sail.  In the Hobie 18, Brad Sumner/Belinda Walkom (Hobiecat Australia, NSW) completely dominated winning four from four races in the 16 race series.

‘We had a couple of close ones and two easy wins.  It was excellent sailing today, beautiful weather, just a bit tiring,’ Sumner said on coming ashore.

Geoff Fiske/Sarah Hollands (Wenro, AUS) did enough to grab second place overall with a 3-3-3 scoreboard after the drop, for nine points, just three points ahead of Richard and Michael Quinn (Quinnybean, AUS).

‘it was hard sailing out there today, really gusty in places 25-30 knots at times and very lumpy,’ Fiske commented.

In the Hobie 17, the competition is fierce and after dropping their worst race, Aaron Worrall (Hobie Cat Australia, Vic) leads on five points by just one point from Dan Kulkowski (NA18, USA), with local entry, Matt Burgess (Vic) third on countback from defending Australian champion, Ron McDonald in fourth place with equal eight points.

Worrall, who is the new Olympic crew for two-time Olympian, Darren Bundock, admitted, ‘I’ve only sailed this boat once before, but I worked it out eventually today and had an ‘alright’ sort of day.’

He nominated Dan Kulkowski and fellow Australians, Ron McDonald and Matt Burgess as the people he expects to keep him on his toes.

Out on the Hobie Tiger course, Mark Laruffa/Dave Silvester (NA28, AUS) scored three wins and a second to lead with three points from Andrew Keag/Sam Reid (Ocean 7, AUS) who finished their day with five points, with the Volvo sponsored Darren Bundock/Alexandra Goltz (Hobie Cat Aust, NSW) currently third overall on nine points.

It was pretty hard out their, a lot of chop and swell and four races back to back.   The sea state was harder to handle than the wind, but it was good fun’ Bundock said of their day.

Expected to do well, things did not go according to plan for Mal Gray with crew Adrian Fawcett (Qld).  ‘We had a mediocre day.  Maybe I’m getting too old – it hurt,’ Gray laughed.

Kerli and Ali Corlett (NSW) cleaned up in the Hobie 16 Masters, winning four from four for three points after the drop to lead from Grahame Southwick/Natalie Hill ((Phantom, Fiji), one point ahead of Bruce Tardrew/Sarah Turnbull (Red Terror, Qld) on eight points.

Current Women’s world champion, Pamela Noriega with crew Andrea Mier Y Terean (MEX), showed just why she is the champion, winning four from four to lead the Womens Hobie 16.  Third placegetter at the worlds, Belinda Zanesco with new crew Karen Todd (Lovin Life, AUS) are a clear second, just three points behind the leaders.

'Pamela is the one to beat.  She sailed much better than us today.  I haven’t sailed much since the worlds and I am here with a new crew.  She’s had more practice, but hopefully things will get better for us,’ Zanesco commented.

Naomi Angwin/Fiona Douglas (Party Master) fill out third place with nine points in the Womens event.

Hobie 16 Youth world champion, Jerome Legal with crew Clement Merzeau (FRA) played cat and mouse with their French compatriots Brice Pelen/Elliot Carpin today, each scoring two firsts and two second places to tie for first overall, but disaster struck, Pelen scored a DNF for incorrectly finishing Race 2 and therefore relegated to second place. 

Chris Hancock/Haylee Williams (Blow Me, AUS) hold down third place on eight points in the non-spinnaker division.

In the spinnaker division, Evan Walker/Kyle Langford (NSW) won all four races to lead from Taylor Booth/Bridget Waterhouse (Team Hobie Sports, NSW) who scored three 2^nd’s and a DNF for second overall going into tomorrow.

Booth, the 17 year-old son of multiple Olympic Tornado sailor Mitch Booth with whom he crewed and won the 2003 Tiger worlds commented after racing, ‘we cart wheeled in the last race and broke gear.  It was hard work with four races, really exhausting, but we know we can do better.  We led in all four races, but couldn’t stay in front – we have to change that.’

Third overall after today is Jake Lurati/Richard Kirton (Unexplained Absence, AUS), just two points behind Booth.

Racing continues on Port Phillip Bay tomorrow.

For full results go to the official Sail Melbourne website:  www.sailmelbourne.com.au

British thoroughbred takes firm hold on Tattersalls Cup

Aera had until seven o’clock tonight to shunt line honours winner Nicorette out of first place but a strong westerly  pushed her up the Derwent River with hours to spare.  She crossed the line at 3:43.43 pm after racing for 3 days 2 hours, 33 minutes and 43 seconds. (The race started at 1:10pm on 26 December 2004).

 Aera has beaten Nicorette by four and a half hours on corrected time and heads the provisional IRC Overall standings for the historic Tattersalls Cup.

Once ashore,  skipper Fanstone said that his strategy was all based on beating the other 50-plus footers in the fleet.  The theory was simple win that contest and if it turns out that the weather conditions favour a boat around that size then you win the race outright. 

“Our gauge was the two or three boats around us.  We couldn’t do anything about the bigger boats ahead of us or the smaller ones behind us.”

While Nicorette won the race for line honours by stickng as close to the Tasmanian coast as possible, Aera’s tactics took her 150 nautical miles out to sea.  This was where the winds and the waves were at their most ferocious, forcing them further and further offshore.

Then they got a perfect shift to the east, a shift that boats closer inshore were not able to pick up:  “it was a lovely left-hander that enabled us to lay Tasman Island from 150 miles out.  We had been trying to get closer inshore but the wind and wave conditions had kept pushing us out to sea up to that point,” he said.

Despite his round-the-world experience,  Fanstone  said that this 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart had been a very tough race.  At times they were down to carrying a very small storm trysail instead of their regular mainsail.  “Downwind in 40 knots with the Volvo race is very different from going into it as we did for most of this race.  We have never raced the boat in these conditions before.”   

While theoretically a number of smaller boats still out at sea can still beat Aera on corrected time, including last year’s winner Michael Spies with his new First National Real Estate, the Sydney 38, Team Lexus, and the veteran Love and War, they will need near ideal sailing conditions to so.

Still, Jez Fanstone knows what a shift in the weather can do, so he is not cracking the champagne just yet.  “If one of the smaller boats has a blinder they could still beat us.” 

Racing underway at Hobie Nationals and Worlds

Officials at Port Melbourne Yacht Club (PMYC) had no alternative but to cancel all racing for the first day of the Hobie Australian and World titles on Port Phillip Bay yesterday, such were the conditions at the start of Sail Melbourne 2005.

Big gusty winds, along with high seas, swell and squally showers convinced organisers to hold the disappointed crews from around the world ashore, eventually abandoning racing for the day.

Racing got away with the Hobie Tiger start at 10.30am today on a choppy and lumpy Port Phillip Bay in 15-20 knot cold, gusty, winds – but at least the sun finally made an appearance.  Race organisers intend having four races back to back today to catch up the schedule.

A number of competitors elected to stay ashore, while a number of others returned ashore unable to handle the conditions or suffering minor breakages, which some of were fixed and crews returned to the water.

It was spectacular though, when the various fleets headed downwind under spinnaker on their two courses between PMYC and St. Kilda Pier, as organisers hoped to get four or five races away during the day.  

In attempt to make sailing more attractive to the public, the Hobie Tigers, contesting their Australian championships, Hobie their Youth Women and Masters titles, along with the Hobie 17 and 18 Australian and World titles are being sailed as close to shore as the conditions will allow so that spectators along the waterfront can see the colourful Hobies in action.

The public are encouraged to visit Port Melbourne Yacht Club where Corporate Vision Australia has set up plasma screens for audiences to view racing on screen from the Club.  Commentary is being broadcast back to the shore so onlookers know what is happening in the four fleets – all in a friendly atmosphere where food and refreshments are available.

Over 90 entries were received across the four fleets and famous names include Australian Olympic representative Darren Bundock (NSW) a four time Tornado World champion and champion in a number of multihull events.  Bundock is sailing in the Hobie Tiger class, with girlfriend Alexandra Goltz   a champion 470 sailor from Germany.

Wellknown performers Mal Gray/Adrian Fawcett (Qld) are also in the Tiger fleet, as is Neville Thompson/Shamus Stevens (Qld), Mark Laruffa/Dave Silvester and Andrew Keag/Sam Reid all expected to perform well. 

In the Hobie 17 class, Yachting Victoria CEO, Ross Kilborn is amongst the crews, as is PMYC Commodore, Michael Broise and Aaron Worrall, Darren Bundock’s new Tornado crew, but a winning skipper in his own right.  The two will pair again for Sail Melbourne’s Olympic & Invited Classes regatta starting January 10.

Defending Australian champion, Ron McDonald (NSW) is here too, with previous multiple championship winner, Michael Kent amongst his rivals.  

Those to watch in the Hobie 18’s include defending Australian champions, Neil Moxham/Joseph Gueltekin veteran skipper, John Crowther, heading to the ripe old age of 70, Shane Norris/Gordon Smith, Geoff Fiske/Sarah Hollands and Brad Sumner/Belinda Walkom, all from Australia.

Youth crews make a big dent in the Hobie 16 14 in all, including defending world champion Jerome Legal with his crew Clement Merzeau (NOU) and Taylor Booth, who with his famous father Mitch as skipper, is the current Hobie Tiger world champion.  Five Women’s teams represent, led by defending world champion, Pamela Noriega with crew Andrea Mier y Teran (MEX) and there are seven crews in the Masters category, including Bruce Tardrew (Qld) who finished second at the 2003 Grand Masters Worlds.

Internationally, entries have come from Mexico, New Caledonia, Hong Kong, Noumea, Fiji, USA and New Zealand.     

Those crews from New Caledonia, Noumea and Queensland are suffering from the cold Victorian summer, to the point where the local chandlery, Anchor Marine, has happily sold out of wetsuits.

Skandia recovery mission underway, chase for handicap honours continues

The recovery of the up-turned 98-footer Skandia, one of the pre-race Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honours favourites, is underway with a tugboat heading to the stricken vessel, with divers and air bags aboard.

“The plan is in place and we’re fully equipped for the recovery. We’re confident the boat is in good enough shape to recover and refit,” said Skandia’s skipper Grant Wharington from Hobart this afternoon.

Conditions have eased off the Tasmanian northeast coast, which will assist in the recovery process of Skandia, as well as yachts still with a chance for handicap honours.

Once Skandia is recovered, Wharington plans to put it on a truck and ship it back to his home port of Melbourne where he will begin refitting a new bulb and keel fin which are already being fabricated for his European campaign next year.

The UK yacht Aera, skippered by round-the-world sailor Jez Fanstone, is a handicap favourite and their performance has drawn praise from a fellow competitor, Roger Hickman, the sailing master on Ichi Ban.

Both yachts are contenders for the silver Tattersalls Trophy for the Overall winner, as are a number of small boats. Peter Kurts’ two-time former Overall winner Love & War and last year’s Overall winning skipper, Michael Spies sailing with his new Beneteau 44.7 First National Real Estate, cannot be discounted from the handicap chase.

“Aera has sailed a brilliant race. We are also trying to sail hard as we think we have a slim chance of beating Nicorette on handicap,” said Hickman this afternoon as they were tacking down the coast into a pleasant 18-22 knot southerly.

“We are hiking out (crew leaning out over the rail) hard like it’s a day race. We have the pedal to the metal.”

Hickman referred to the tough conditions they have experienced for the past 36 hours in this 628 nautical mile race, which began in Sydney Harbour on 26 December.

“I’ve never seen so much water come over a boat, everything down below is wet. Everybody has slept in their full wet weather gear. With the waves so big, you have to be prepared for everything.”

“Today the skies have cleared and people are coming on deck for the first time in three days.”

Sean Langman’s AAPT is the latest finisher in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race with an official finish time of 11:40:42 to give the boat an elapsed time of 2 days 22 hours 30 minutes and 42 seconds.

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Stay-in-one-piece tactics pay off for Nicorette’s skipper

Nicorette - the winner of 60th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

“I feel more tired than I’ve ever felt in my life.”

With those words an emotional but subdued Ludde Ingvall docked his 90-foot maxi Nicorette at Hobart after taking line honours in the 60^th Anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race after 2 days 16 hours and 44 seconds at sea.

This is the second time Ingvall has achieved this victory, but the nature of this 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart with its galeforce winds and big seas, and especially the disaster that met Skandia and her crew yesterday, clearly coloured his emotions as he explained how he did it.

“This (the Rolex Sydney Hobart) is the two toughest days you can spend in ocean racing,” he said,  “it feels like three weeks.”

Ingvall said that even before the start of the race on Boxing Day, when he saw the weather forecasts, he knew that this year it was going to be a demolition derby. His whole strategy would be based on sailing a conservative race so that he got the boat across the line.  This meant often sailing with smaller sails and slowing the boat down.  “These supermaxis can launch off the waves with too much power, too much speed.  That’s when they can break up,” he said.

So the plan was to get as close to the Tasmanian coast as possible to get out of the seas. 

Nicorette hugged the coast, taking the roundabout scenic route, sailing inside Maria Island while the two supermaxis stayed further out to sea.  The smaller boats have little option but to take on the big seas in order to get the best wind, but Ingvall explained that these huge supermaxis don’t need much wind to travel at exceptional speeds. 

“You saw that as we came up the river this morning,” he said to the waiting media and spectators.  Six knots of wind and we were doing 13 knots. In flat water these boats are exceptional.  In big seas they are just another boat,” he said. 

Even sailing so conservatively through the storm took its toll on Nicorette, with the crew having to use bolts from the bunks to patch up cracks in the carbon hull. “We were boat building all the way,” he joked.  He admitted there were times when he wasn’t sure they were going to make it.

Describing the 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race as one of the toughest races he has ever been in, the loss of Skandia is playing on his mind.  When asked whether he would be back next year he said that he needs to think hard about that. Gesturing towards his crew he said “I would never want to lead these fifteen intelligent young men into a situation like the one Skandia faced yesterday. As the skipper it is your responsibility.”

“It’s a tough game. This is the hardest race of all. There is nowhere to escape.  You can turn around but that is not in our nature.

“It is an amazing event.  The best and toughest ocean race in the world.  I feel sad for those who won’t make it to Hobart.  Mother nature doesn’t forgive.”

Incredibly Nicorette may only stay in Hobart for a few hours before heading back to Sydney for the Strathfield Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Race, which starts on 2 January.  “We will have a crew meeting before making the decision to head back to Sydney although I would like to be the first boat to take line honours in both races with the same boat within the same season,” Ingvall said.

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Nicorette takes Line Honours in 60th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

The 90-foot super maxi Nicorette has taken Line Honours in the 60^th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, giving owner/skipper Ludde Ingvall his second victory in four years.

Nicorette crossed the finish line off Hobart’s Castray Esplanade at 5.10.44 am on a chilly and wet morning, sailing up the Derwent River under spinnaker in an 8 knot southerly breeze.

The finish was in marked contrast to the galeforce winds that Nicorette and the other boats in the now decimated fleet have experienced over the past 24 hours.

Her elapsed time for the race of about 2 days 16 hours 00 minutes 44 seconds is more than 21 hours outside Nokia’s record of 1 day 19 hours 48 minutes 02 seconds set in 1999.

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Secret Mens Business misses 'window of opportunity'

Just imagine!

Two and a half days of bashing your head against the wall in 35 knot winds and vicious seas and then, with Hobart virtually in sight, the wind dies and it takes you almost 12 hours to cover the final 40 miles of the 628 nautical mile course.

Such is the tale of the South Australian yacht Hardys Secret Mens Business in this 60^th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Race.  The brand new, state-of-the-art Reichel/Pugh 46 foot racing machine passed Tasman Island just after midnight and finally crossed the finish line just after midday today.

Yet dockside, her laconic owner Geoff Boettcher was remarkably philosophical.  “We just expected it somehow.  Last year we had a parking lot, without it what would the race be.

“We had our downhill hairy ride, we had our bash and bang and a nice little calm coming in is good.”

Boettcher’s race plan had been to hang on as close as he could to the bigger 52-footers Ichi Ban and Yendys.  He figured that with his better rating he could afford to give them a few hours across the finish line and still beat them, which would put him in a great position for an outright race win. 

For most of the race the plan worked well, until at the height of the gale, Hardys Secret Mens Business fell off a wave and damaged the ring frame just forward of the mast. 

They headed in towards Flinders Island to try to shore up the frame before it started to do real damage to the hull.  “It started to flex, and that’s when you get cracks in the hull.  The boys went to town and strapped a bit of spare sail batten on either side with a hand drill and some self-tappers to shore it up.

“I didn’t want to limp into Hobart.  We went slowly for a while and then a bit harder, then we were racing again.”

Boettcher reckons that the incident cost them four hours all up, and, as it turned out, arriving at Tasman Island at midnight instead of 8.00pm proved very costly.  Around midnight the wind died in Storm Bay, as it usually does.  They had missed the window of opportunity.

Despite the wild conditions and the damage to his boat, at no time did Boettcher consider pulling out of the race.  He has found himself stuck a few times in Eden in the past and jokes that his boat will have to sink before he ever turns back again. 

“They call me the ‘mayor of Eden’ because I’ve had to pull in there a few times.  I’ve got fellow yachties back in Adelaide making bookings for me at the Eden Travelodge. 

“I drew a big arc around Eden and said to the guys ‘we’re not going there’.”  

Hardys Secret Mens Business is the ninth out of 12 yachts to finish the 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the latest three being Phil Coombs’ Dekadence from Melbourne and the Sydney yachts, Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki and Gunther Schmidt-Lindner’s Austmark.

The first Tasmanian boat due is Craig King’s Interum, which is expected across the finish line at 8.30pm tonight according to Yacht Tracker.

British yacht Aera heads IRC Overall handicap standings

The highly credentialed British yacht Aera has taken the lead on Overall IRC handicap standings in the 60^th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race as the race leaders sail down the Tasmanian East Coast to the finish on the Derwent River at Hobart.

Under the sailing mastery of Englishman, Jez Fanstone, and with crew that has travelled the international sailing circuit in the past 12 months, the 55-foot Aera assumed the handicap leadership late tonight from the supermaxi Nicorette, now the fleet leader.

In line for a race finish and line honours around breakfast time tomorrow, Nicorette, skippered by Ludde Ingvall, still remains a strong chance for the rare line honours-overall handicap double.

Sailing well offshore from the Tasmanian coast, Aera was fourth in the fleet at 10.30 pm  and averaging a little over eight knots as it made for landfall at Tasman Island, still 90 nautical miles astern of  Nicorette and 116 miles from the finish.

In third place on overall handicap was Another Challenge, the 38-foot Victorian entry crewed by Team Melbourne Uni crew.

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Stricken Skandia capsizes in Tasman Sea after losing keel

The stricken supermaxi, Skandia,  has lost her massive keel and capsized in the Tasman Sea late today as skipper Grant Wharington and his crew flew into Hobart after taking to liferafts earlier in the day.

Skandia tonight is floating upside down, some 80 nautical miles offshore.

Stewart Thwaites arrives in Hobart disappointed but philosophical

“Coming the last two hundred miles by bus wasn’t the way we planned it.”  These were the wry thoughts of Stewart Thwaites, the owner/skipper of the New Zealand supermaxi Konica Minolta as he faced the press in Hobart.

Earlier in the day, Konica Minolta, seemingly with the finishing line of the 60^th Anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race there for the taking, fell off a massive wave and out of the race. 

“We had a relatively hard night (in gale force winds and big seas) but nothing we couldn’t handle.  But we launched off a ten metre wave with no back,” Thwaites explained. 

“The bow felt like it was facing the sky and a good proportion of the keel was out of the water,” Konica Minolta’s principal helmsman and America’s Cup sailor, Gavin Brady added.  “There was that lonely five seconds while we waited to fall.  You hope for a soft landing but…”

When the twenty-seven ton yacht smashed down into the bottom of the wave’s trough “we heard a crack but we were not sure what it was,” Thwaites said.

“It was an all hands on deck situation.”  They found that the cabin top had creased between the mast and the sleave of her enormous canting keel, where there are intense structural pressures on the boat.  For an hour the crew attempted to slow down the yacht as they braced the damaged area, but with the boat head on to the big swell and the back and forth motion bending the hull, Thwaites and Brady decided that if they continued sailing there was a real possibility the keel could fall off the boat.

The sails were lowered and they motored towards the Tasmanian coast.  Their race was over.  “It was a hard decision,” Thwaites said.  “We agonised over it, but the consensus was that it was dangerous (to continue).”  They moored Konica Minolta in Binnalong Bay and came the last leg to Hobart by bus.

Ironically the damage occurred just five miles from relative security.  Brady explained that during the night, after a day of playing cat and mouse with the Melbourne supermaxi Skandia, Konica Minolta took a gamble and sailed very aggressively during the dark, stormy hours. “Normally at that stage of the race you would have everybody below resting but we kept everyone on deck.”

The tactic allowed them to open a substantial lead and this morning, with Skandia forced to retire and no other boat close enough to threaten their lead, they decided to head toward more settled waters close to the coast.  “We were only five miles from smooth water when the boat broke,” Brady said.

Thwaites described the tough conditions in Bass Strait as similar to those in 2000, his first Rolex Sydney Hobart.  “This race was like a wrap up of the last four.  Water spouts, whales, sunfish, two-inch deep hail on the deck and sunny skies and fast downwind sailing, all in one race.”   In Bass Strait they encountered two waterspouts, one they seriously had to run away from.

 Brady said last night this was the toughest he’d faced in seven Hobarts.

Yet while they were forced to withdraw when so far in front Thwaites was philosophical.  “Last year was much more disappointing (when he trailed Skandia over the line by fourteen minutes after an epic match race all the way from Sydney).  It is not as though we made any bad tactical decisions.”

So will he be back?   “Every year I say it’s my last time.  Yes, I will probably be back,” he smiles ruefully.

Nicorette chasing line honours and handicap double

As the 90-foot Nicorette races down the Tasmanian coast towards a line honours victory, another question is beginning to emerge – is the supermaxi going to take an illustrious double of line honours and handicap for the 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

With less than 100 miles to go and averaging 9-10 knots in southerly conditions, things are looking very good for Nicorette’s owner skipper Ludde Ingvall in his first race with the new yacht.

While gale conditions still persist across much of the course, Nicorette is now not expected until after 2.00am tomorrow morning, and possibly as late as 6.00am depending on conditions across Storm Bay and, more critically, in the Derwent River.

George Snow’s Brindabella is also well placed on Overall handicap as is the Victorian entry Dekadence, Sean Langman’s AAPT and Peter Kurts’ classic timber sloop and two-time Overall winner, Love & War.

On PHS handicap, Maserati, skippered by Ian Potter, leads from Leila, the Swan 46 skippered by Pat Quinn, who last sailed into Hobart during an around-the-world race, and the Volvo 60 Seriously Ten.

Fifty-four yachts have now retired, the latest being Geoff Ross’ Yendys. A former European campaigner, Yendys was in 8th place mid-afternoon when she tore her mainsail and advised Race Control she was heading for Lady Barron on Flinders Island off Tasmania’s northeast to join Konica Minolta, which is currently resting on a mooring, the crew now in Hobart.

The Bureau of Meteorology has renewed its gale warning for eastern and southeastern Tasmanian Coastal Waters between Flinders Island and South East Cape.

In the forecast issued at 4.00pm this afternoon, the Bureau is forecasting southwest to southerly winds of 25 to 35 knots, reaching 40 knots offshore, easing 15 to 25 knots tomorrow but 25 to 35 knots offshore at first.  Seas of 6 to 9 metres offshore are expected to abate slowly to 4 to 6 metres tomorrow. 

Nicorette chasing line honours and handicap double

As the 90-foot Nicorette races down the Tasmanian coast towards a line honours victory, another question is beginning to emerge – is the supermaxi going to take an illustrious double of line honours and handicap for the 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

With less than 100 miles to go and averaging 9-10 knots in southerly conditions, things are looking very good for Nicorette’s owner skipper Ludde Ingvall in his first race with the new yacht.

While gale conditions still persist across much of the course, Nicorette is now not expected until after 2.00am tomorrow morning, and possibly as late as 6.00am depending on conditions across Storm Bay and, more critically, in the Derwent River.

George Snow’s Brindabella is also well placed on Overall handicap as is the Victorian entry Dekadence, Sean Langman’s AAPT and Peter Kurts’ classic timber sloop and two-time Overall winner, Love & War.

On PHS handicap, Maserati, skippered by Ian Potter, leads from Leila, the Swan 46 skippered by Pat Quinn, who last sailed into Hobart during an around-the-world race, and the Volvo 60 Seriously Ten.

Fifty-four yachts have now retired, the latest being Geoff Ross’ Yendys. A former European campaigner, Yendys was in 8th place mid-afternoon when she tore her mainsail and advised Race Control she was heading for Lady Barron on Flinders Island off Tasmania’s northeast to join Konica Minolta, which is currently resting on a mooring, the crew now in Hobart.

The Bureau of Meteorology has renewed its gale warning for eastern and southeastern Tasmanian Coastal Waters between Flinders Island and South East Cape.

In the forecast issued at 4.00pm this afternoon, the Bureau is forecasting southwest to southerly winds of 25 to 35 knots, reaching 40 knots offshore, easing 15 to 25 knots tomorrow but 25 to 35 knots offshore at first.  Seas of 6 to 9 metres offshore are expected to abate slowly to 4 to 6 metres tomorrow. 

Nicorette leading fleet towards Hobart

The last survivor of the supermaxis in the 60^th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race,  Ludde Ingvall’s 90-footer Nicorette,  is expected to lead the decimated fleet into Hobart early tomorrow morning.

At 2.00pm today, Nicorette was off Wineglass Bay on the Tasmanian East Coast, making just under 10 knots to windward.  She was more than 50 nautical miles ahead of the next boat in the fleet,  Sean Langman’s 66-footer,  AAPT,  with George Snow’s maxi, Brindabella, third in the fleet.

If Nicorette can maintain this speed over the final 116 nautical miles of the rugged race, it should finish about 2am,  but local yachtsmen say that, realistically, it will be nearer 4am as winds on the Derwent River historically fade from midnight onwards.

A total of 51 boats have now officially retired from the 116 boat fleet that set sail from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day, leaving 65 still racing.  Of these, several are still sheltering in Twofold Bay as galeforce southerly winds sweep up the Tasmanian East Coast and across eastern Bass Strait.

Among the most recent retirements has been veteran Rolex Sydney Hobart skipper Syd Fischer, who was sailing his 35^th race to Hobart.  He reported to the Race Committee at 10.55am that his Farr 50 Ragamuffin had been dismasted due east of Flinders Island. All crew are reported to be OK.

Meanwhile, further details have been released on the shock retirement of race leader Konica Minolta earlier this morning.

What Stewart describes as a “gi-normous” wave has crushed his second attempt at a line honours win in the 60^th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race with his 98-footer Konica Minolta.

“Just before 6.00am we barrelled off the top of a ‘gi-normous’ wave and crashed down the other side,” said Thwaites this morning. “I was below deck when it happened. I heard the wave then I heard the foam crushing. It was all hands on deck. The helmsman was keeping the boat under control and trying to slow it down.”

“This wave was twice as big as any others we’ve seen during this race. It was a pretty hairy night overall.”

The 98-foot Konica Minolta suffered structural damage to its cabin top and the New Zealand crew agreed that the structural weakness would only further deteriorate in the heavy seas.

“We are facing up to what’s happened pretty easily,” added Thwaites. “At the end of the day, it is a boat race after all.”

“This year we were better prepared. We’ve pulled out due to a boat issue. We were well in front (when it happened) and we are satisfied from that point of view”.

A recovery plan is now underway for Skandia, which was forced to retire at 2.00am today with major problems in controlling its canting keel.  A tug has been contracted to take the boat in tow back to a safe port yet to be announced.

Shortly before 9am the crew of 16 left the 98-footer in two liferafts and transferred to the Water Police launch Van Diemen which has since taken them to Lady Barron on Flinders.

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Conditions take their toll on race fleet - Rolex Sydney Hobart

The southerly change is taking its toll on the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet with eight retirements and another three yachts heading to port to effect repairs and seek assistance for an injured crewman.

The Tasmanian entry Quest Travelscene 66, skippered by John Bennetto, the yachtsman with the most number of Sydney Hobarts to his name – 43 – is the latest retirement. He is heading to Ulladulla on the NSW south coast with a broken rudder.

Bill Koppe’s Delta Wing from Sydney also retired this morning due to broken gear.

Three boats are still in the race but are heading to port, including Kickatinalong with a torn mainsail, Pretty Fly II with radio problems and Hidden Agenda with a crewman with a slight injury. Hidden Agenda and Pretty Fly II are heading for Eden and Kickatinalong is making its way to Bermagui.

Meanwhile barely half a mile separates the two leading boats, and they seem to have settled into a replay of the 2003 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race when neither was willing to let the other out of his sight.

“It’s as close as it was last year,” Will Oxley, Skandia’s navigator observed this morning.

The two yachts entered Bass Strait together at around 2:00am Monday morning, after a glorious spinnaker run down the New South Wales coast that at times saw them as much as twenty five miles ahead of the race record schedule set by Nokia in 1999. Now they are well out of contention the race contention having slipped 70 miles behind Nokia’s position at this stage of the race in 1999.

The frontrunners have extended their lead today over Ludde Ingvall’s Nicorette and Sean Langman’s AAPT which is slogging in the headwind, more than a third of the way across Bass Strait.

Based on current speeds, the first boat is due to cross the finish line in Hobart on tomorrow afternoon.

A disappointed Ingvall said this morning that Nicorette lost six miles yesterday afternoon when their largest running spinnaker split in two within hours of leading the fleet out of Sydney Harbour.

The torn sail snagged in the rigging, forcing them to sail under mainsail alone for forty minutes. 'We never give up. We’ll see if we can keep up the speed and hunt them down. We have made it hard for ourselves though,' Ingvall said.

A gale warning is current in northern Bass Strait with one yacht reporting to the Race Committee during the midday weather sked they had experienced winds of 35-40 knots from the south south west.

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Vendee Globe Day 50 - Australia off the map, and half way mark passed

Right now I’ve got flat water, moderate swell from west, just getting dark, very heavy rain squalls, and I’m coming out the other side of some clouds - when the cloud line lifts it feels like we’re close to the centre of the depression. Changing sails all day between blast reacher and solent, doing great speeds. This is about as good as it gets in the Southern Ocean, as good as it has been since Cape of Good Hope.  Good to hear Skandia Wild Thing is winning in the Sydney Hobart!

Full audio at http://www.ocftp2.com/audio/vendee2004/nm261204a_uk_e.mp3


POSITIONS 1000 GMT 26th DECEMBER 2004

BOAT / LAT / LONG / distance to finish

1. BONDUELLE, 55 17.48' S / 150 37.20'W, 9807.5 distance to finish
2. PRB, 53 24.16' S / 154 07.12'W, 9955.0 distance to finish
3. ECOVER, 54 58.40' S / 156 47.12'W, 10019.8 distance to finish

7. SKANDIA, 47 44.20' S / 153 55.76'W, 11874.5 distance to finish

For full positions report go to http://www.nickmoloney.com and follow the positions link

Supermaxis ahead of race record in dash down coast

Supermaxis Skandia and Konica Minolta tonight are continuing their ocean racing duel as they surf south down the Australian East Coast in the 60th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, with the Yacht Tracker recording them achieving speeds of 18 to 21 knots.

Close astern of them is the newly launched Nicorette which earlier had led the fleet – by a mere three seconds from Skandia – as the leaders turned the sea mark and headed for Tasmania.

At this stage of the race, the three boats were some 20 nautical miles further south than Nokia was when she smashed the race record in 1999.  However, this is not expected to last, as the fleet will encounter strong southerly headwinds as a change moves up the coast early tomorrow morning.

Skipper Grant Wharington’s steered his 98-footer Skandia to the lead after a spectacular battle out of Sydney Harbour with Stewart Thwaites’ 98-footer from New Zealand, Konica Minolta, and Ludde Ingvall’s new 90-footer Nicorette, sailing in her first race.

Nicorette led the three super maxis out of the Harbour, but Wharington headed further out and, with the added push of a strong southerly current, quickly moved into the lead. 

Seven hours after the start Skandia was 36 nautical miles south-east of Jervis Bay, with Konica Minolta less than three miles astern. Less than half a mile back came Nicorette while Sean Langman’s Open 66, AAPT, was snapping at their transoms and on corrected time the fleet leader overall under IRC handicap.   Astern of them, and also south of Jervis Bay, came George Snow’s Brindabella and the first of the Volvo 60s, Andrew Short’s Andrew Short Marine.

In this fast race, big boats also dominate the overall handicap results, with Skandia in second place, Konica Minolta third, followed by Nicorette.  Of the smaller boats, the best placed on corrected time is the newly launched Adelaide yacht Hardys Secret Mens Business, a Reichel/Pugh 46 skippered by Geoff Boettcher, while Matt Allen’s Farr 52, Ichi Ban is eighth in IRC standings.

Meanwhile, two boats have retired from the 116-boat fleet that set sail at 1.10pm – Steven David’s Targé and the Victorian boat Kontrol, skippered by Peter Blake.  Targé was towed back to Sydney this evening after a bilge pump siphoned water back into the hull, causing an electrical melt-down.

Skipper Iain Murray said the crew suddenly found they had lost control of the canting keel and on investigating found water in the bilges.  “With no electrics, no keel and no engine, we thought it prudent seamanship to head into Botany Bay,” Murray added.

Kontrol, a past line honours winner of the Melbourne to Hobart West Coaster Race, reported a rudder bearing fault affecting the boat’s steering.  They too are returning to the CYCA.

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Thousands to watch 60th anniversary start

Sixty years ago today,  a fleet of nine wooden yachts, their sails made of cotton, their rigging galvanized wire, most of them without radio communication,  set sail in the inaugural Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Today, at 1.10pm, a state-of-the-art fleet of ocean racers,  the latest ones built of carbon fibre,  with masts, booms and even sails made of similar material, will set sail on the 60^th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. 

As was the case in 1945, a large fleet of spectator craft will be on the Harbour to farewell the fleet,  while many will watch the colourful event from the headlands.  The fleet, of course,  will be much larger – 116 boats, including several from overseas - will line up for the two-line start north of Shark Island,  and so will the spectatators – with up to 3000 craft expected on the water and up to 400,000 people watching from ashore.

Again, like the 1945 race,  the fleet can expect freshening north-easterly breezes as the boats sail down the New South Wales South Coast this afternoon and tonight, reaching 20-25 knots overnight ahead of a south-westerly change on Monday, when winds will strengthen to 15-30 knots, possibly reaching 40 knots offshore. 

However, while seas will rise the Bureau of Meteorology’s forecast is that they will be between 3 and 4 metres on a low swell.

After a cloudy Christmas Day, Boxing Day in Sydney will be warm and sunny with light south-east to easterly breezes forecast for the start which will freshen and back to the north-east at 13-18 knots during this afternoon. Tonight, the northerly winds will increase to 20-30 knots along the Illawarra Coast ahead of Monday’s change.

The Port of Sydney is closed from 9am to 4pm and an exclusion zone for the race start will apply from 11am to 2pm, marked clearly by yellow buoys. A fleet of 40 control boats will help marshal the spectator fleet.

At 11.45am, competitors from early races, including two boats from the first race, will take part in a Parade of Sail.

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Terra Firma withdraws from fleet – 116 boats expected on line

The Victorian yacht Terra Firma today withdrew from tomorrow’s 60^th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race,  leaving a fleet of 116 boats expected to line up on Sydney Harbour for what promises to be a rugged race south.

However, forecasts issued by the Bureau of Meteorology this afternoon indicate that conditions as the fleet sails down the New South Wales South Coast and across Bass Strait to Tasmania may not be as severe as indicated earlier this week.

Terra Firma, the Overall winner of the Sydney Hobart Race in 1995, is the only late withdrawal from the fleet, which is still the largest in a decade and double those of the past two races.  Owners, Nicholas Bartels and Martin Vaughan from Sandringham Yacht Club in Victoria, cited “lack of crew” their reasons for withdrawing.

The 628 nautical mile race gets under way from the Harbour at 1.10pm tomorrow, Boxing Day, using a two-line start, the larger and faster boats starting from the front (northern) line.  

To compensate the boats on the back (southern line), the bigger boats will have to sail an extra distance to a rounding mark at the Heads before heading to the sea mark and turning south for Tasmania.

Ray Richmond, 85, the sole surviving crew member of Rani, the line and overall handicap winner of the inaugural Sydney Hobart Race in 1945, will fire the starting cannon while two other first race veterans, Geoff Ruggles and John Gordon, will fire the warning and preparatory signal cannons.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s forecast for tomorrow’s spectacular start from Sydney Harbour is southwest to southeasterly winds of 5-10 knots in the morning, tending north/north-east at 10/15 knots in the afternoon. 

These winds, which should give the fleet a fast spinnaker run down the NSW South Coast, Are forecast to freshen from 15 to 25 knots by midnight, with the Bureau issuing a strong wind waring for the Illawarra Coast and South Coastal waters from Port Hacking south to Gabo Island.

Further down the Illawarra Coast towards Jervis Bay, the Bureau predicts the north/north-easterly winds could reach 25-35 knots in the evening with seas rising to 2-3 metres.

By the early hours of Monday morning, northwest to northeasterly winds along the NSW South Coast should reach 20/30 knots offshore ahead of a 25/30 knots S/SW change.   However, behind the initial front the winds are expected to increase to 35-45 knots by late morning, with the strong southerly winds continuing through Tuesday as the fleet heads across Bass Strait and down the Tasmanian East Coast.

From Monday morning onwards, the 60^th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race looks to be a hard slog to windward for almost the entire fleet,  conditions that will favour the bigger boats.

The forecast for Tasmanian coastal waters is for southwesterly winds of 20-30 knots east of Flinders Island on Monday, freshening to 35 knots on Monday evening, with southwest to southerly winds on Tuesday of 25-35 knots, grading to 35-45 knots well offshore on Tuesday. 

Generally, a seas throughout the race are expected to 3-4 metres on a 2 metre swell, but reaching4-6 metres well offshore on a southerly swell of 2-3 metres, 4 metres well offshore.

The Bureau of Meteorology will give the skippers of the 116 boats in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race a final weather briefing at the CYCA at 8.30 tomorrow.

Big Boats the tip for a cold, wet Hobart

“For the last two years we haven’t needed our wet weather gear.  That is over.”  That was the droll summary of Race Committee chairman Tim Cox after the skippers of the 117 yachts competing in the 60th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race were today given a full briefing on the likely weather they will encounter during the 628 nautical mile ocean classic. 

For most it was grim news indeed.  Gale force winds, big seas, biting cold, and even hailstones were all in the mix.

All up, the prognosis on Christmas Eve is worse than the preliminary outlook circulated just 24 hours earlier.

Peter Dunda, of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, told the skippers they could expect a fast spinnaker dash down the New South Wales coast in ideal north-easterly winds following the 1.10pm start from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day, 26 December 2004.

However, the fleet will see conditions deteriorate rapidly early Monday, 27 December as they sail down the New South Wales South Coast.  North to northwest winds of 15 to 25 knots will give way to a southwest change at 25 to 35 knots during the morning.  By evening the winds in Bass Strait will increase to 35 to 45 knots, and the swell will rise from moderate to heavy.   The temperature will also drop sharply. 

By Tuesday, 28 December, it will be very cold at sea, and the southwesterlies will reach 40 to 50 knots, sometimes 60 knots in squalls that could contain hailstones.  It is likely to be so cold there could be snow in the Tasmanian highlands and in the Alps on the mainland.  At the peak of the gale, wave heights may average six to nine metres, with the possibility that some waves will reach twice that size.

For the smaller boats at the back of the fleet it will be a long, tough slog.  The gale will continue through Wednesday, and Dunda said that even on Thursday the conditions would be “pretty poor”.

Following the forecast the consensus at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia is that the 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart will be a big boat race.  Iain Murray, who had fancied the handicap chances of the 60 foot rocket ship Targé when he steered her to victory last week in the Rolex Trophy conceded that this is far from a dream forecast for the lightweight boat which is owned by Steven David.

“I think you are looking at one of the two 98 footers (Skandia and Konica Minolta).  I haven’t seen (Ludde Ingvall’s just launched 90 footer) Nicorette, so it’s unknown,” said Murray.

Skandia owner/skipper Grant Wharington, who won line honours in 2003 agreed.  “There is a big possibility one of the three maxis will get line honours and handicap.  It doesn’t look likely that the record will be broken though, unless the southerly change takes longer to arrive.”

But if they want to take the double, the three maxis will have to get to Hobart first.  Sean Langman, the owner/skipper of the Open 66 AAPT summed it up:  “It comes down to being able to reef (reduce the sail area) the sails without breaking things.”  Wharington agreed that in conditions like these crew work will be well and truly tested, and a slow reef can do a lot of damage to a big boat in the expected conditions.

“Big boats are a big handful,” Iain Murray observed, “and I am sure there will be a few of us waiting there to pick up the scraps.”

The last big boat to take line and overall handicap honours in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was Sovereign in 1987.

One skipper who was very happy after the forecast was Andrew Short, the skipper of the Volvo 60 Andrew Short Marine.  “Oh yeah, this is exactly what we have been waiting for.  Our boat really loves that 30 to 50 knot stuff.”  

Short reckons that he if he can keep within 45 miles of the maxis as they scoot away on the first day he will be able to close the gap in the southerlies crossing Bass Strait. “So we’ll be neck and neck by the end of the second day, and if the wind holds we’re looking good and if it drops they’re looking good.”

While not as bad as the horror races of 1984, 1993 and 1998, for the small boats it looks like 2004 will be a rerun of 2000 a cold, wet slog that will test the limits of their endurance.

CYCA commodore Martin James says that all the boats have been well prepared for these sort of conditions, and race officials will keep the fleet up to date with as much weather information as necessary so that the skippers can make the right decisions.  He ruled out ordering any boat to abandon the race though.  “In directing a yacht to shore we could be directing them into danger,” he said.  “The responsibility ultimately lies with the skippers.”

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Vendee Globe day 47: Slow going south of Adelaide

RACE POSITIONS 0930 GMT: SKANDIA 7th, slipping back further on VIRBAC (6th) to 480 miles, and small gain on PROFORM (8th) at 195 miles. BONDUELLE almost out of the upwind stuff, but not the icebergs. 48 mile lead on PRB, ECOVER 3rd at 267 miles.

RACE UPDATE DAY GOING IN TO 47th DAY

WEATHER NOT LOOKING SO HELPFUL FOR SKANDIA: ‘Still hoping to be south of Tasmania for Christmas Day, but not looking so good right now. Jean-Pierre is on fire, he’s really got away by being able to hang on to the cold front. He should slow down soon, but so will I...’. An air of frustration onboard Skandia this morning, as light winds from the wrong direction slow up Skandia’s progress. VIRBAC meanwhile recorded the fleet best of 363 miles in the last 24 hours...

PATRICE CARPENTIER (VM MATERIAUX) OPTS TO FIX IT! Patrice has opted to continue racing and try to repair his broken carbon fibre boom using part of his spinnaker pole...its going to be a long job it seems.

THE ICE ‘MINEFIELD’ shows no sign of letting up, with more icebergs spotted this morning by BONDUELLE. Very stressful times for these skippers, who daren’t shut their eyes for long...the rest of the fleet undoubtedly starting to feel the stress as well...

BONDUELLE AND PRB PASS IN TO THE WEST having crossed the Anti-Meridian last night, which puts them in to westerly longitudes once again. Now they will be counting the westerly degrees down all the way to Les Sables d’Olonne...

OC SAILING TEAM UPDATE: Nick’s team mate ELLEN small collision, holding 15 hour lead
http://www.teamellen.com

SKANDIA DATA LOG 0930 GMT: data brought to you by BT Business Broadband, transmitted via Thrane&Thrane
LAT/LONG: 47 05 S / : 135 35 E due south of Adelaide...
WIND: 15 knots from the west
BAROMETRIC PRESSURE: 1000Mb

POSITIONS 1000 GMT 23rd DECEMBER 2004

BOAT / LAT / LONG / distance to finish

1. BONDUELLE, 55 58.96' S / 176 58.04'W, 10703.7 distance to finish
2. PRB, 53 19.84' S / 177 30.56'W, 10751.8 distance to finish
3. ECOVER, 53 53.60' S / 175 49.28'W, 10970.9 distance to finish

7. SKANDIA, 47 05.24' S / 135 35.44'E, 12507.3 distance to finish

For full positions report go to http://www.nickmoloney.com and follow the positions link

Fleet of 117 confirmed for Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

The Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Martin James, this evening confirmed that the Club expected that a fleet of 117 boats would start in the 60^th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race this coming Sunday , 26 December 2004.

He said that the maxi and super maxi yachts which had undergone weigh-ins and other re-measurement over the past few days had submitted valid IRC rating certificates by the deadline of 5pm today.

“We had received all of the new rating certificates from these boats before the deadline,” Commodore James said, adding that the CYCA Sailing Office would continue to process other documentation until the morning of the race start.

One yacht, Outlaw, will undergo a inclination check tomorrow morning to check an outstanding ballast issue.

Asked to comment on the Bureau of Meteorology weather forecast of galeforce south-westerly winds off the NSW South Coast  on Monday and further gales off the east coast of Tasmania on Tuesday,  the Commodore noted that this was a long range forecast that could well change between now and then.

“There certainly will be steep seas and at this point of time the conditions could affect the smaller boats with the bigger boats outsailing the worst of the weather,” he added.

“But behind this weather could be be northerly winds bringing the smaller boats home fast to capitalize on their low handicap ratings.”

Commodore James said the CYCA itself and the competitors were much better equipped to cope with a rough race than had been the case in 1998. 

“We have procedures in place to handle any race situation much better and we know that the 117 boats and about 1200 crews setting sail on Boxing Day should have sufficient experience and training to handle these conditions.

Note to editors:  The boats involved in the weigh-in were Skandia, Konica Minolta,  Nicorette and AAPT.

Tough race ahead for Rolex Sydney Hobart fleet

The 60^th Anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht race looks set to be firmly in the tradition of its predecessors.  The Hobart has a well-earned reputation as one of the toughest ocean races in the world, and early indications are that 2004 will test the crews and their boats thoroughly.

Barry Hanstrum, the Regional Director (NSW) of the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology has issued a preliminary outlook that is full of southerly winds.

Spectators should see a spectacular spinnaker start in light to moderate southeast winds, and these will turn northeast during the afternoon allowing the yachts to rehoist their chutes for a downhill run along the New South Wales coast.  It will be a wonderful day for sailing.

However, Hanstrum says that on Monday the conditions will deteriorate, with freshening north to northwest winds ahead of a gale force southwest change reaching the far south coast of NSW during the morning, about the same time that the front runners should be getting ready to launch themselves into Bass Strait.  The change will extend up the coast, reaching Sydney Monday evening.

Southwest gales with stronger rainsqualls will welcome the lead boats off the Tasmanian coast on Tuesday, with very rough seas and a heavy swell.

These would not appear to be conditions conducive to a record run.  An initial straight line dash on day one for the three supermaxies fighting it out for line honours will become a whole new race, where tactical decisions and the ability to avoid breakages will be just as critical as straight boatspeed in determining the ultimate victor.

The forecast would appear to be good news for the Volvo 60’s though.  Water ballasted and built for the southern ocean, they will relish the lively conditions, especially if the supermaxies are forced to sail conservatively.  A lot will depend on just how much distance they give the bigger boats on that first day.

For the smaller boats it is going to be a very uncomfortable ride.  They will have more of the gale to sail through but will hope that, as compensation, they get northerlies after the big boats dock in Hobart.  That would turn the 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart into a small boat race.

Unfortunately the preliminary forecast doesn’t predict that far out.      

Amended Yachting Australia Anti-Doping Policy - Effective 1 Jan 05

Due to requirements by the Australian Sports Commission, the Yachting Australia Anti-Doping Policy has been amended. The format is different, and is based on the template provided by the Australian Sports Commission.

A copy of the Policy, which comes into effect on 1^st January 2005, is available on the Yachting Australia website – click here.

Please note that the 2005 Prohibited List also comes into effect on 1^st January 2005. The full List can be found on the Yachting Australia website – click here.

Any questions regarding the above should be directed to Katie Culbert, Senior Coordinator – High Performance at Yachting Australia.

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Coaching Clinic for All Sail Melbourne Olympic Class Competitors

Yachting Australia's head coach Victor Kovalenko has announced that there will be a coaching clinic held for all Sail Melbourne Olympic class competitors on the 7th, 8th and 9th of January 2005.

Victor has invited some of the top coaches in the country to attend the coaching clinic, including Olympic Team Coaches, National Coaches, State High Performance Coaches and AIS Scholarship coach.

The clinic will be held at Sandringham Yacht Club, Jetty Road , Sandringham, Victoria

The format of the clinic will be a 2-hour education session, including one-hour presentation from a high performance coach, followed by an open forum for discussion on the days topic. The topics chosen for this are Weather and Strategy, Tactics and speed.

• 6pm: Friday 7th January - Topic Weather
• 6pm: Saturday 8th January - Topic Tactics
• 5pm: Sunday 9th January - Topic Speed

For more information and to advise Yachting Australia of your attendance, please contact - hpu@yachting.org.au.

Brendan Todd named South Australian High Performance Coach

The new South Australian High Performance program is a partnership between Yachting Australia, Yachting South Australia, and the South Australian Institute of Sport (SASI).

The program will be officially launched in February 2005. At this time there will also be an information night for the South Australian sailing community.

Brendan has fulfilled a very successful sailing career as an athlete at the highest levels and after retiring from elite sailing wishes to continue to help other sailors reach higher levels of performance.

'This program is a really good opportunity to add another level to the excellent youth and development training already established in South Australia. The High Performance Program will give youth sailors the chance to move into the next level of training – the National Senior program,' Brendan Todd said.

The South Australian High Performance program will be based at the SASI, and program members will operate from Adelaide Sailing Club. The program represents an exciting new period for high performance sailing in South Australia – the home of many top sailors over the years.

The inclusion of a sailing program by the SASI is a tremendous boast to Olympic and Paralympic sailing in South Australia.

'I believe that Brendan’s valuable experience at Olympic level will bring effective results from South Australian athletes, and result in representatives from South Australia at the Olympic Games and South Australia’s first ever Olympic sailing medals,' said Yachting Australia Head Coach, Victor Kovalenko.

 For more information on Brendan Todd click here.

High water levels a benefit for Milang to Goolwa Freshwater Classic

The Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club presents Australia’s most popular freshwater yacht race, the BEA Motors & Malaysia Airlines Milang Goolwa Freshwater Classic on Sunday 23rd January 2005.

A tradition in South Australia on a weekend around Australia Day, up to 400 yachts including trailer sailers, multihulls, off the beach cats, dinghies and classic Goolwa riverboats gather for the Milang Goolwa Freshwater Classic.

The race is sailed in 9 divisions over 26 miles from Milang on the shores of Lake Alexandrina - across the lake, around Pt Sturt then downstream to Goolwa finishing before the Hindmarsh Island Bridge. The course tests all sailing skills.

'Since 1854 the Club has been running regattas encouraging on water activities and has been the focal point for boating on the South Coast. The annual Goolwa Regatta has transformed into the Milang Goolwa Freshwater Classic and attracts thousands of sailors and spectators to the area every year and contributes to the local community,' said Race Director, Graham Roberts.

A large rescue fleet will accompany the race, managed by the Victor Harbor and Goolwa Sea Rescue Squadron and supported by the Department of Marine and Harbours, SA Police and power boat volunteers.

Now officially in its 39^th year the event originally started to settle an argument between two hardened local river boat skippers who decided on a 'decent race' on 27 December 1966. They raced from Goolwa to Milang, little knowing that their challenge to each other was destined to become Australia's biggest freshwater race.

Yachtsmen and women have been coming to Goolwa for 150 years to participate in races organised by the club. Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club was founded some time before August 1854 and is the oldest yacht club in South Australia and believed to be the oldest in Australia.

The 2005 Race:

Race Director Graham Roberts said: 'The majority of the fleet cruises to Milang on the Saturday, with local service clubs providing food & beverages on the shoreline.

'On the Sunday morning we have a series of divisional starts from 9 am to handle the many hundreds of boats setting out on the journey to Goolwa.

'The event is famous for its excellent post-race celebrations on the GRYC Club lawns, with food, beverages, music and entertainment throughout the evening'.

The race weekend starts with the twilight invitation only Taylor Collison 'Go for Gold' dash, in which sports trailerables and classic Restricted 21s compete for a winner-take-all gold nugget provided by race sponsor, Taylor Collison Share Brokers. Competition is fierce, with the race held in front of the club.

Communities along the Lower Murray Lakes foreshore provide strong support for the event having recognised its enormous contribution to local tourism and the spectacle it provides from the cliff tops along the shoreline. A feature of the Freshwater Classic is the large spectator participation with crowds taking up positions from every vantage point along the river bank and cliff tops. Spectator craft also line the river banks on the edges of the channel to add to the carnival atmosphere of this event.

'Over the last 39 years this race has at one time or another been a ‘must do’ for almost every serious and not so serious sailor in South Australia and many from the Eastern States and WA. It fully caters for everyone in the sailing community – whether cruisers or racers,' said Race Director, Graham Roberts.

Trophies are awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place getters in each division. For large divisions, additional trophies may include class and other special awards. Every yacht completing the course receives a commemorative medallion.

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Seven-time round the world sailor teams up with Australia’s fastest woman on water

Luckily for round the world sailors Adrienne Cahalan and Jacques Vincent, their neighbours don’t mind collecting their mail, picking the ripe fruit and even doing the gardening.

French sailor Jacques Vincent, 42, has been sailing professionally since 1983 after quitting his ‘one and only desk job’ after 6 months. He reckons being away from his house in the south of France for nine months or so every year makes him the perfect neighbour and he’s delighted that the raspberries, mushrooms and plums he grows in his garden don’t go to waste.

Jacques has done seven circumnavigations including three Whitbreads, one Volvo Ocean Race and three ‘big cat’ (catamarans) roundings. This year, he was watch leader on Steve Fossett’s 125 foot catamaran Cheyenne when it broke the record for the fastest time around the world in any type of boat.  They did it in just 58 days 9 hours 35 minutes and 42 seconds.

Also on board was Australia’s best-known navigator, Adrienne Cahalan, who was declared the fastest woman on water in the world for this feat. At the time, she also held the outright 24 hour record and just over a month later, she won the prestigious Navigator’s trophy for winning the Newport – Bermuda Race on the Transpac 52 ‘Rosebud’.

It’s been a good year for Adrienne, and for her role as navigator on Cheyenne, she was nominated for the fourth time for the Rolex ISAF World Yachtswoman of the Year.

Cahalan also has the honour of having completed the most Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Races for a woman – 13, including navigating Ludde Ingvall’s Nicorette to a line honours victory in 2002. At just 40, she figures she has plenty of time to reach the 25 race milestone when yachties become legends at the home of the Rolex Sydney Hobart, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney.

Between these two international sailors, who you can’t imagine wearing anything but Sperry sandals and sailing shirts and shorts souvenired from one of the many regattas and ocean races they have competed in, they have sailed more than 500,000 nautical miles. That’s 22 circumnavigations of the globe.

Neither of them can imagine going back to a desk job though Cahalan, who has a law degree specialising in maritime law and a recently completed Masters of Science in Applied Meteorology, can see herself in charge of the legal side of an America’s Cup campaign.  But that’s only when she gets tired of chasing records.

For Cahalan the downside to a life of jetting around the world hopping on and off boats is that it makes it very hard to hold down a relationship.  “People sense that you are about to leave,” says Cahalan. “They always ask where are you going next? You do spend a lot of time alone on aeroplanes.”

Jaques is not so sure it’s a problem.  “If you stay ashore too long you get bored and then you get married,” he shrugs with a smile.  At times he really does seem so very French.

Cahalan is currently writing an autobiography on her sailing exploits.  The first draft of the manuscript is due March 1, something which is causing her some anxiety. Not only because the thousands of sea miles have blurred somewhat, but also because she doesn’t like to big note her achievements too much. She is Australian after all.

Jacques and Cahalan will form part of the crew sailing aboard Andrew Short Marine (Andrew Short), the Volvo 60 which was djuice for the 2001-2002 Volvo Ocean Race, the last time Jacques was on board this boat.

Cahalan believes if it blows hard from the south, the five Volvo 60s competing this year have an “outside chance” of line honours as these boats are tried and tested in the tough southern ocean.

As you would expect, after so many ocean miles the two work well together.  It even runs to stand-up comedy, it seems.

According to the self sufficient Frenchman, land-based superstitions also ring true on board boats with a crew number of 13 and starting a race or a record breaking passage on a Friday supposedly unlucky.  And of course in the old windjammer days women on boats were deemed unlucky too.

He facetiously refers to the number on board Cheyenne for their record breaking run as “12 plus one girl”, referring to Adrienne.

Not one to be outdone by the boys, Adrienne is quick off the mark to refer to their Rolex Sydney Hobart crew number in the same way. “I’m going to Hobart with 11 crew and one Jacques,” she laughs.

He is in a league of his own after all. Then, again, so is she.

Sail Melbourne 2005 – enter now!

First Entries for Sail Melbourne, Australia’s lone Grade 1 event continue to come in and already it looks like another big roll up for this internationally acclaimed regatta sailed on Port Phillip Bay in December and January each year in a variety of classes and including Olympic & Invited classes, along with world and national championships.

Many more entries are expected before the Sail Melbourne Olympic & Invited Classes Regatta starts on January 10^th 2005.

The event commenced in 1994 and is at present one of only five annual ISAF (International Sailing Federation) Grade 1 events held annually around the world.

As the first Olympic Classes event of the new Olympiad it will also be a test piece for many up and coming young sailors as they come to grips with sailing at the top level. The event will be held at Sandringham Yacht Club once again the perfect venue for a regatta of this calibre and has attracted many of the Athens Olympic sailors, along with an influx of Beijing Olympic hopefuls.

Already in excess of 80 entries have been received from a range of countries around the world, including Finland, France, Hong Kong, New Zealand, USA and the United Kingdom.

Participators include Laser Olympic aspirants Michael Bullot (NZL) and Roope Suomalainen (FIN), fresh from their recent second and third places at SIRs in Sydney.  Mark Howard (GBR), Andrew Lewis (USA) and Australians Brendan Casey (winner at SIRs), Simon Morgan and Ben Austin will be there too.         

Local girl and outstanding Laser Radial Womens world champion, Krystal Weir heads that class, straight from her convincing second overall and Womens win at SIRs.  Fellow Australian Richard Bott joins Weir, along with New Zealander’s Jane Macky and Olivia Powrie, both keen for a shot at an Olympic place.    

Australian Olympic reps from Athens, Nicky Bethwaite and Karen Gojnich come together again with new crew Helen Impey and will sail against Melbournite Margaret Morgan and her crew. 

Back too, fraternal sisters Pat and Joyce Warn.  Aged in their early seventies and still racing strongly, the Sydney sisters made Ynglings famous.   Up to 12 Ynglings are expected on the start line for the Yngling National Championships being conducted as part of the Olympic Classes event.

In the Mistral sailboard, Australia’s Jonathan Bonnitcha will take on New Zealanders Nick Lichtwark and Antonio Cozzolino and a fleet of seven Hong Kong Mistral sailors, while fellow Kiwis, Steffanie Williams and Louise Wilkinson will take on the Aussies and others in the Mistral Womens.    

Australian SIRs 470 winners, Queensland’s Mathew Belcher/Nick Behrens will race second placegetters Elise Rechichi/Tessa Parkinson from West Australia.  Both are capable of making it to Beijing in 2008, as is Darren Bundock in the Tornado class, sailing with his new crew, Aaron Worrell.

In the 2.4mR class, which is shaping up to be an all-Australian affair, watch husband and wife Michael and Kathy McLean go head to head.  Others include Michael McLean and Pamela Murray.              

Other high profile events include the spectacular Hobie 17 and Hobie 18 World Championships with fleets of high performance catamarans racing along the Port Melbourne beach, close enough to shore to grab the attention of spectators.

Already over 110 hundred entries have been received from Hobie sailors around the world.  Brothers Greg and Eric Raybon are coming from the USA, Pedro Colon from Puerto Rico, Takehito Nakamaru (JPN), Peter   Davies (HK), Armando and Pamela Noriega (MEX).  They will face a large and tough Aussie contingent in Mal Gray, Tim Shuwalow and Darren Bundock, who will sail against his Tornado crew, Aaron Worrall – the pair teaming up for the Tornado for Olympic & Invited Classes.

The Moth World Championship, to be held at Black Rock Yacht Club will include boats using revolutionary hydrofoils allowing them to ‘fly’ up to three feet above the surface of the water.  They are just as exhilarating to view as they are to sail as they take off in solid winds.

Again, a big fleet will compete, over 40 entries received to-date from the likes of expatriate Aussie Mark Robinson, now representing Singapore and looking for a top five result, Aussie Les Thorpe who is always a top contender, finished second at the 2003 Worlds while his Aussie compatriot, Rohan Veal, a keen hydrofoiler, finished third at the worlds and is the current Australian champion.  He also won the 2004 Victorian title with a perfect score. 

Switzerland’s Patrick Ruf, fifth overall at the worlds will also be on the start line, along with Keiya Funahashi (JPN), Joachim Huelsmeyer (GER), Adam May (GBR), local Andrew Sayle (AUS) and the only current female entry, Jenny Muller. 

In a terrific display of sailing skill and water speed just metres from the Elwood Beach, the Formula Windsurfing Oceanic Continental Championships will be held at Elwood Sailing Club.  It will provide an outstanding precursor to the World Championships in December 2005 and again provide thrills for spectators on shore.

To complete what is really a ‘celebration of sailing’ around Port Phillip, Sail Melbourne will play host twelve other National Championships, from 10 different Yacht Clubs as part of the 2005 event, counting the Olympic Classes Warm Up Regatta, Australian Heron Championship, Contender National Championship, Australian Minnow Championship, Australian Pacer Championships, Australian S80 Championships, Australian MUMM 30 Championships and the Southern Oceans Multihull Regatta.

Once again, Sail Melbourne will benefit from the State Government of Victoria’s ongoing financial support for the regatta over the next four years.  The Hon. Justin Madden MLC, Minister for Sport and Recreation stated, ‘Sail Melbourne includes a terrific range of events that provides opportunities for the greater Australian sailing fraternity, in particular young sailors. It also helps ensure our sailors become even faster, more professional and better experienced to take on the world.’

Studies also estimate the Sail Melbourne regatta generates an economic impact of approximately $6 million for Victoria each year.

Sailing is a sport undeniably growing in popularity, recent examples being at the Athens Olympic Games where a windsurfer competitor lit the flame, two female sailors put it out and Australian six time Olympian, Colin Beashel, led the team into the stadium carrying the flag!

There is still time to enter Sail Melbourne.  Organisers, Yachting Victoria, encourage all sailors to come and ‘have a go’, particularly for those interested in the Olympic & Invited Classes.  Should you just wish to compete against some of the best sailors in the world, learn from the best sailors, or have Olympic aspirations, please go to the Sail Melbourne website where you can enter online.

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2004 Cadet Nationals update

After the first days racing in the 2004 Cadet Nationals, leading the field is Todd Hughes with his ten year old crew Jackie Stokes. Chris Martin and Jarryd McKinnon are in second spot. Both these crews are from the Adelaide Sailing Club. Currently in third place is Adam Evans and Anton Sasson from Victoria then Patrick Hutton and Lewis Noye from Tasmania.

An interesting fact is that the first boat Dominator is skippered by Todd Hughes son of Malcolm Hughes who is the Chairman of the Organising Committee of this event, and fourth place is Pour Quoi skippered by Patrick Hutton whose father Nick Hutton is President of the International Cadet Association of Australia.

Yesterday the winds were very light. On Tuesday winds reached up to 18 knots.

CadetNationals 2004 - Division Progressive Results

~ Sail No Boat name Helm Crew R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 Nett Drop Points Place AUS 9282 Dominator Todd Hughes SA Jackie Stokes 1 2               3 0 3 1 AUS 4937 The Saint Christopher Martin SA Jarryd Mackinnon 2 4               6 0 6 2 AUS 5509 Samaran Adam Evans VIC Anton Sasson 3 6               9 0 9 3 AUS 9012 Pour Quoi Patrick Hutton TAS Lewis Noye 13 1               14 0 14 4 AUS 6001 Brass Monkey Douglas Copson TAS Thomas Kennedy 6 9               15 0 15 5 AUS 5757 Striker Kate Aulich VIC Isabella Say 17 3               20 0 20 6 AUS 4659 Red Rocket Jock Sinclair VIC William Kelly 14 7               21 0 21 7 AUS 9424 Shimmer Clair Mccartney TAS Lucy Shephard 4 18               22 0 22 8 AUS 5502 Encounter Amanda Scrivenor VIC Harrison Fullard 5 21               26 0 26 9 AUS 5758 Wild Thing Sally Peacock TAS Douglas Shephard 16 13               29 0 29 10 AUS

Results will be available daily on the Adelaide Sailing Club website including reports & photos from each days racing - www.adelaidesailingclub.com.au

For further information please contact    MICK BOWLEY on 0418-825-458.

IRC Rating Certificates – Process Clarification

The Cruising Yacht Club Of Australia (CYCA) today advised that all boats entered in the 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race must lodge final IRC Rating Certificates by 5:00pm on Thursday, 23 December 2004.

The CYCA said it is not uncommon for yachts to change their IRC Rating Certificates during the season or in the lead-up to a major ocean race.

However, no IRC Rating Certificates may be changed after that time, except as a result of a Protest, or to correct a Rating Office error. IRC ratings are issued by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in England, which administers the Rule.

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Very close racing in the midst of the Southern Ocean - The Global Challenge 2004/05

Five of the yachts are racing so close in the midst of the Southern Ocean that two of the yachts nearly collided!

Eero Lehtinen, skipper of SAIC La Jolla comments: 'Unbelievable fleet racing in the middle of Southern Pacific as 5 of us (boats) are within 3 miles lined up reaching West in fresh southerly winds. Before the wind shift as we were still beating we had a close port/starboard situation with Samsung where we cleared their bow only a few boat lengths ahead of them, of course on port tack! Funny thing is that in case of a protest situation there would have been 3 witnesses to choose from! Instead happy waving and cheering was exchanged from boat to boat. Fantastic to have such a close race, the crew is more motivated than ever before!'

Out in the lead is Spirit of Sark, determined to hang on to their slim lead: 'Once again we are in and out of light airs and are losing miles and then gaining them back on a regular basis. As a result we have BG Spirit and BP on our heels.

'They appear to be following us and attempting to grind us down. We are all determined for this not to happen. We have been racing for about 4000 miles and have been in the front for at least half of it. We are a focused and robust crew that will do our utmost to deter any attempt to alter the front position, whatever the weather.'

Snapping hard is BP Explorer in second, 27 miles behind, currently match racing with BG SPIRIT – a further two miles behind. Just 12 miles behind BG SPIRIT is VAIO with SAIC La Jolla another 24 miles back. There is then just five miles separating the next five yachts, with positions swapping by the hour between SAIC La Jolla, Barclays Adventurer, Me to You, Samsung and Team Save the Children (5,6,7,8,9th respectively)!

Morale on the up as repairs go well on Skandia

RACE POSITIONS 0930 GMT: SKANDIA 7th, holding steady distance with VIRBAC (6th) and PROFORM (8th). BONDUELLE bashing upwind in 1st, ECOVER and VMI have re closed the gap to less than 300 miles with ECOVER in to a podium position for the first time.

QUOTE OF THE DAY FROM NICK: ‘The seastate is unbelievable compared with the Indian, its just been a treat today. The crossed seas we had for 15 days did my head in’

RACE UPDATE DAY GOING IN TO 45th DAY

ANOTHER DAY OF DIY: Nick has been working away on his post-capsize job list, ticking off more jobs every day. Just two jobs left to fix on the deck, and down below starting to get some order. Nick also managed to get wind direction data working from the masthead last night, and combined with wind speed from his backup wind wand on the stern the B&G pilot is now functioning much better...100% better! Skandia bit the bullet yesterday and made some good ground to the south to ensure he did not run out of wind in the north...operation successful, as he is once again surfing along nicely in strong westerlies...

LEADERS STILL FIGHT WIND AND KEEP ICE WATCH: the 15 icebergs reported by New Zealand MRCC [Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre] are now less than a 100 miles from the leading duo, as they carefully choose their tacks to make best progress to the east but also dodge this ‘minefield’. They will actually sail to the south of the icebergs, which is a very unusual thing to be doing, but these bergs are very very far north.

WEATHER FOR SKANDIA: Nick surfing to the east just ahead of a cold front, which is pushing past the same depression that has been keeping him company for almost a week now. This cold front is forecast to continue pushing all the way to the east of Australia, maintaining moderate to strong winds for Nick right through to the other side of Christmas.

OC SAILING TEAM UPDATE: Nick’s team mate ELLEN approaching Crozet Islands 20 hours ahead of Joyon
http://www.teamellen.com

SKANDIA DATA LOG 0930 GMT: data brought to you by BT Business Broadband, transmitted via Thrane&Thrane
LAT/LONG: 46 09 S / : 120 10 E under Oz!
WIND: 25 to 30 knots from the WNW, and looks to hold for a few days
BAROMETRIC PRESSURE: 1000Mb

AUDIO EXTRACTS courtesy of Geolink/Iridium
To listen to the full audio : http://www.ocftp2.com/audio/vendee2004/nm211204a_uk_e.mp3

‘Oui, en plein forme!

I’m having a good day on the work list today, so I’m much happier. I managed to build one wind wand [see JARGON BUSTER] out of the two we had. I have the wind direction coming form the top of the rig [mast], and the wind speed data from the deck. She is a completely different boat, no more fishtailing [boat heading unsteady], its just great. The boat is off. Such a relief. Feels like it did two weeks ago, and I feel great about that. The boat has felt so out of sorts for such a long time, and I haven’t been comfortable to push, or to sleep. Soon as I got it going, she was smoking at 22 knots...felt great. Boat accelerates now when a wave hits it rather than sliding around. Its great...

Job list? I’d like to get up the rig and get the spare forward wind wand up. Still got a broken outhaul and lazyjack jammers. Still can’t fix the tiller on deck, that is slipping still, which isn’t helping the autopilots, so want to get on top of that at some stage. Down below...spent some time trying to fix Solent boot leak but no progress. Everything tidyish. The Papermache is under control in the back.

I realised by just moving around, dropping and hoisting sails, that I’ve lost so much strength. So I’ve started exercising this morning, and I realised today I’ve got to eat more. I’ve got to concentrate on shoving in the food, not even sure I could pull myself up the mast at the moment. I have been eating less than the planned diet. Originally I thought I had brought too much food, but now I’m wondering if I’ve got enough. And I’ve got a beard that keeps getting caught in the velcro of my thermals.

I’m trying to hang on to the front side of the depression, this wind could carry to Tasmania, so need to do the best I can to stay with it. Expecting the wind to increase tonight. The seastate is unbelievable compared with the Indian, its just been a treat today. The crossed seas we had for 15 days did my head in.

It doesn’t feel like Christmas yet, more like Ground Hog day. I think I’m going to get some light airs soon, so maybe then I’ll decorate the place. I really feel it though when I speak to my nieces and nephews, that’s quite emotional.


JARGON BUSTER: WIND WAND? Solo sailors spend most of the time with their boats on autopilots. These pilots are very sophisticated, taking inputs from gyro compasses and wind instruments at the top of the mast, making very fast calculations to try and respond to the changes in wind and waves and keep the 60 foot boats underneath their sails and the boats heading in the right direction! Its a hell of technical challenge with the boats surfing faster than the wind, down towering waves that can throw the boat on its side very quickly. The pilot is the skippers’ best friend, or worst enemy if its not working...Whilst the pilots can steer to a compass heading, these boats accelerate so easily, therefore creating a rapidly changing wind angle, that the boats cannot be pushed very hard using this basic mode. Instead they are set to steer to a constant true wind angle. The key input therefore is that of wind angle and wind speed. The ‘wands’ are the carbon fibre mini-masts that are fixed right at the top of the mast, with wind vane and anenometer fixed to them.

JARGON BUSTER: MRCC? The world’s oceans are divided in to a number of regions that are monitored and controlled in terms of maritime safety by different countries and co-ordination centres. The fleet are passing between Australian and New Zealand MRCCs at present. In the time of of a crisis, it is the MRCC that manages all the rescue actions and receives the emergency position signals.

POSITIONS 1000 GMT 21st DECEMBER 2004

BOAT / LAT / LONG / distance to finish

1. PRB, 54 27.60' S / 173 06.44', 11053.8 distance to finish
2. BONDUELLE, 53 09.60' S / 173 00.12', 11080.0 distance to finish
3. ECOVER, 54 53.44' S / 164 20.00', 11339.1 distance to finish

7. SKANDIA, 46 05.80' S / 122 19.72', 12981.3 distance to finish

For full positions report go to http://www.nickmoloney.com and follow the positions link

CYCA Announces Ocean Racer of the Year

Tonight the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, which is busily preparing for its biggest event, the 60^th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race which starts this Sunday, took time out to recognise those who have achieved excellence in yachting in the previous 12 months.

At the awards night, Matt Allen, the owner/skipper of the Farr 52 Ichi Ban, a major contender for Overall honours in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, was named CYCA Ocean Racer of the Year, the most prestigious of the four categories awarded annually.

Sydney based Allen won IRC Division A of last year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart, quickly followed by an IRC Overall win at Sailing South Week and Geelong’s Skandia Week. The boat then went on to win the IRC Australian Offshore Championship and later in the year, collected the trophy for the IMS Division of the Brisbane to Gladstone Race.

The other nominations for Ocean Racer included last year’s winner, Bob Steel, who, with his former yacht Quest, finished 3^rd in IRC Division A and 2^nd in IMS Division A of the 2003 Rolex Sydney Hobart. He then went on to finish 2^nd in the IRC Australian Offshore Championships behind Ichi Ban and Steel also collected a handicap win in the Sydney Gold Coast Race.

The third nomination was Howard de Torres, the CYCA’s current Bluewater Champion. Howard finished third in the IMS division in last year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and second on IRC with his IMX40 Nips N Tux. These top placings, along with strong results in the 8-race Bluewater Pointscore Races saw him crowned the Bluewater Champion. Howard also finished first on PHS in the Rolex Trophy which finished on Sunday.

This year’s CYCA Ocean Racing Veteran of the Year, John Walker, is a third time winner. John has completed all of his 20 Sydney Hobart Races on his boat Impeccable and for this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, he has the honour of being the oldest skipper in the fleet at 82 years of age.

This season John achieved his best results yet including winning the Sydney Mooloolaba Race on IMS and IRC and winning the Gosford to Lord Howe Island Race on IMS handicap.

This year’s Ocean Racing Rookie of the Year, Peter Johnston, is one of the owners of the Beneteau 40.7 which was called First National Real Estate when it was steered to Overall handicap victory in the 2003 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race by skipper Michael Spies.  This was the first Rolex Sydney Hobart Race for Johnston who, with Spies, provide a winning combination.

Justin Dock, this year’s Ocean Racing Crew Person of the Year, was nominated by the CYCA’s current Bluewater Champion and Ocean Racer nominee Howard de Torres.  Justin Dock has sailed with Howard for nearly nine years on board Nips n Tux and Howard describes Justin as “a committed crew member who is always available and keen and who goes out of his way to help organise and run the boat including training those new to the boat.”

The mechanism of evaluation for the awards is such that all ocean racing, both locally and internationally, is looked at and points on a weighted scale are allocated for various successes in sailing. 

The weighting favours performances in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the CYCA’s own Bluewater, Tasman and Cape Byron Championships.

The Judging Panel also takes into account all other races and regattas that the nominations list.  These include the Australian Offshore Championship, Hamilton Island Race Week, Hogs Breath Airlie Beach Regatta, Sailing South Race Week, the Rolex Trophy Series and Sail Victoria Race Week.

Sydney and Hobart Lord Mayor exchange City flags in Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race ceremony in CBD

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race sailed into the centre of Sydney today as some of the big name contenders and world’s best sailors gave their views on this year’s race to a lunchtime crowd.

It was a unique chance for Sydneysiders to meet some of the biggest names in the race, including Ludde Ingvall from Nicorette and Michael Spies from First National Real Estate,  last year’s Overall winner, sharing their experiences and thoughts on the world’s greatest ocean race.

Also present were Australia’s leading yachtswoman Adrienne Cahalan British Fastnet and Round the World sailor Jez Fanstone husband and wife team Lisa and Martin Hill and American skipper of Fine Line USA Rich Montplasir, who has travelled from Chicago with a crew of friends to fulfil a lifelong dream to compete in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

The 60^th anniversary of this iconic Australian event was marked with a ceremonial handover of the flags of the City of Sydney and the City of Hobart.

Both Lord Mayors have agreed to fly each other’s flag for the duration of this year’s race as a symbol of the bond and the history shared by the two cities since the race’s inception in 1945.

The Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney, Clover Moore, MP said that Hobart and Sydney share a unique friendship through the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

“Over the past 60 years our cities have shared the challenges, the joys and the hardships of a race which captures the imagination of sailors and spectators alike,” said Ms Moore as she presented the City of Sydney flag to CYCA Vice Commodore Roger Hickman, himself a two–times winner, for a safe delivery to Hobart.

“It’s part of the Sydney summer landscape – families gathering on and around our beautiful Harbour on Boxing Day with a picnic and binoculars to take in the colourful sails and the Harbour waters churning as the fleet and spectator boats break through the heads,” Ms Moore said.

Hobart’s Lord Mayor, Rob Valentine, in a message wished all skippers and their crews a safe journey to Hobart.

“At 60 years of age most are looking to retire.  But this blue water classic is in its prime and is seen as a lasting bond between our cities and the fearless seafarers that ply between them,” Mr Valentine said.

“I have despatched to the Lord Mayor of Sydney our flag in the hope it will be proudly flown for the duration of the race.  I ask that on completion of the race that you lower the flag in commemoration of a race well run,” Mr Valentine said.

With just five days to go before the start of the race, the fleet of 118 yachts are making final preparations for their journey south.  Betting has the New Zealand super maxi Konica Minolta tipped as the hot favourite for Line Honours.

Two start lines will apply for this year’s start on Sydney Harbour, allowing the bigger and faster yachts to get away ahead of the smaller boats and heavier cruisers. 

The starter’s gun will be fired at 1.10pm on Boxing Day by 85 year old Ray Richmond, the only remaining crew member from Rani, the winner of the inaugural race in 1945.

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Vendee Globe Day 44: Moloney sails under Australia

RACE POSITIONS 0930 GMT: SKANDIA 7th (SILL now officially abandoned), less than 3 degrees of longitude from VIRBAC, but some 250 miles to his north. Holding off Proform. PRB and BONDUELLE just 7 miles apart at front.

QUOTE OF THE DAY FROM NICK: ‘Then we passed the longitude of Cape Leeuwin [and therefore ‘under’ Australia], and it was unbelievable - the sun came out literally within a few minutes’

RACE UPDATE DAY GOING IN TO 44th DAY

NOW TO THE EAST OF CAPE LEEUWIN: Great to be ‘home’! But not wanting to get so close to see land...’might want to hang a left if I did, but also land is a real enemy of the solo sailor....’

MORE LIKE ‘THE TRANSAT’ reports race leader Vincent Riou: currently bashing their way south east in unusual, and extremely uncomfortable upwind conditions. Riou compared his 55 degrees south position and head-bashing conditions more to the The Transat than the Vendée Globe. Check out The Transat race, the effective prologue and qualifier for the Vendée at http://www.thetransat.com. PRB is just 7 miles ahead of BONDUELLE, but VMI and ECOVER have slipped back to 280 and 340 miles.

ICE ON THE BOWS at 400 miles for the leaders – 15 icebergs have been reported right on the track of the leading pack. The wind direction is forcing them yet further south, but just how far dare they go before accepting a punishing non-favourable tack to the north east rather than the south east. Its exactly in this manner in 2000 that Ellen and Bilou were forced south in to a pack of icebergs that nearly had them pinned down...

HELLOMOTO CLIMBS RANKINGS now 14th, having screamed past Leibovici and Dinelli yesterday. Conrad recovering ground fast after his enforced Cape Town pitstop to repair rudder and mast rigging.

OC SAILING TEAM UPDATE: Nick’s team mate ELLEN in ‘very rough seas’, 17 hours ahead of Joyon
http://www.teamellen.com

SKANDIA DATA LOG 0930 GMT: data brought to you by BT Business Broadband, transmitted via Thrane&Thrane
LAT/LONG: 44 19 S / : 116 17 E under Oz!
WIND: 15 to 20 knots from the west...not a great angle for Nick.
BAROMETRIC PRESSURE: 1008 mb and steady...

AUDIO EXTRACTS courtesy of Geolink/Iridium
To listen to the full audio : http://www.ocftp2.com/audio/vendee2004/nm201204a_uk_e.mp3

‘Was hoping for some sunshine at daybreak, but the morning was very overcast with a lot of rain squalls. Then we passed the longitude of Cape Leeuwin [and therefore ‘under’ Australia], and it was unbelievable - the sun came out literally within a few minutes, not a cloud in the sky, ended up outside hand steering just loving life. Now we are back in squalls and sunshine. I’m steering during the rain squalls and cleaning during the sunshine.

Haven’t been sailing flash angles to get south, but I had to bite the bullet. I’ve been a little too far north now for a while.

Is Australia following you? ‘Mum and Dad says its been huge back in Australia, but your parents are always going to say that aren’t they! Christmas Day could be the half way mark for me, that will be great. One of my concerns in that depression, was that if I had to be rescued I’d be crucified in Australia (due to previous negative press in similar circumstances). The question is often asked where do we draw line at adventure, but everyone appreciates it I guess. People in Australia do understand the wandering spirit, its a country full of big dreams that have made something out of nothing.’

POSITIONS 1000 GMT 20th DECEMBER 2004

BOAT / LAT / LONG / distance to finish

1. PRB, 56 26.84' S / 167 28.40', 11212.6 distance to finish
2. BONDUELLE, 55 49.72' S / 167 29.72', 11220.2 distance to finish
3. VMI, 54 09.76' S / 160 07.76', 11491.7 distance to finish

7. SKANDIA, 44 19.36' S / 116 17.48', 13253.3 distance to finish

For full positions report go to http://www.nickmoloney.com and follow the positions link

Sydney International Regatta wrapped up for 2004

Another successful year at the Sydney International Regatta finished today with the 196 boat fleet sailing in a Sou’ East breeze which reached 20 knots on Sydney Harbour.       

Sailors from Great Britain, USA, Singapore, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, Chile, Finland, Malaysia, Czech Republic and Australia have taken part in this annual regatta with many of the competitors using SIRs as training prior to State and National Championships.

Queenslander Brendan Casey (AUS) has taken out the Laser class title.  New Zealander Michael Bullot dropped back to second place and Finnish sailor Roope Suomalainen completed the podium positions in third just one point behind Bullot.

The Laser Radial fleet has been won by Zac Skulander (AUS) with World champion Krystal Weir (AUS) taking the second on a count back and Steven Todd (AUS) has taken third spot. 

Anthony ‘Nocka’ Nossiter (AUS ) has again won the Finn class title at Sydney International Regatta with Western Australian sailor Josh Beaver (AUS) in second and UK sailor Jim Turner finishing third. 

Tornado champion Darren Bundock and Aaron Worrall (AUS) took the title in the Tornado fleet with Robbie Lovig and Glen Douglas (AUS) in second and Greg Wyers and David Hart (AUS) slotting into third. 

Queenslander Mathew Belcher and crew Nick Behrens (AUS) have taken out the 470 class with Victorian team Tom Chisholm and Jon Newman (AUS) in second place and Western Australian sailors Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson (AUS) moved into third place with a one point separation from the Victorians. 

Emmett Lazich and crew Jukka Piirainen (AUS) dominated the 49er class, while Julian Bethwaite and Tai Elliott came second on 21 points. 

Final Results (first three places):

Laser

1. Brendan Casey (AUS) 16pts
2. Michael Bultot (NZL) 20pts
3. Roope Suomalainen (FIN) 21pts

Laser Radial

1.  Zac Skulander (AUS) 10pts
2. Krystal Weir (AUS) 10pts
3. Steven Todd (AUS) 22pts

 Laser 4.7

1. Mark Lincoln (AUS) 6pts
2. Hamish Hurley (AUS) 10pts
3. Marc Jarvin (AUS) 16pts

 470

1. Mathew Belcher, Nick Behrens (AUS) 7pts
2. Tom Chisholm, Jon Newman (AUS) 24pts
3. Elise Rechichi, Tessa Parkinson (AUS) 25pts

420

1. Craig Souter, Jeremy Roberts (AUS) 8pts
2. Will Phillips, Max Taylor (AUS) 10pts
3. Sam Kivell, Chris Maxted (AUS) 21pts

 49er

1. Emmett Lazich, Jukka Piirainen (AUS) 10pts
2. Julian Bethwaite, Tai Elliott (AUS) 21pts
3. Scott Kennedy, Chris Kitchen (NZL) 23pts

29er

1. Jamie Woods, Ian Jensen (AUS) 19pts
2. Silja Lehtinen, Scott Babbage (FIN) 23pts
3. Jalen Andreatta, Jamie Jochheim (AUS) 27pts

 Finn

1.  Anthony Nossiter (AUS) 7pts
2. Josh Beaver (AUS) 14pts
3. Jim Turner (GBR) 19pts

 Mistral

1. Jonathan Bonnitcha (AUS) 11pts
2. Michael Lancey (AUS) 11pts
3. Corey Plant (AUS) 20pts

505

1. Michael Quirk, Geoff Lange (GBR) 15pts
2. Nathan Wilmot, Justine Kelleher (AUS) 18pts
3. Andrew Hewson, Kane Sinclair (AUS) 20pts

 Tornado

1. Darren Bundock, Aaron Worrall (AUS) 6pts
2. Robbie Lovig, Glen Douglas (AUS) 11pts
3. Greg Wyers, David Hart (AUS) 17pts

Sydney International Regatta complete final results will be available on the Yachting NSW website at www.nsw.yachting.org.au.

Harbourside Spectators in for a nostalgic treat

The hundreds of thousands of spectators expected to occupy the shores of Sydney Harbour to watch the start of the 60^th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race should take up their vantage points a little earlier this year.

Their reward will be a journey through Australian yachting history and not a little nostalgia for an era in ocean racing long gone.

To mark the Rolex Sydney Hobart’s 60^th  birthday more than 30 veteran yachts from past races will stage a Parade of Sail that will take spectators all the way back to the very first race of 1945.

The parade will begin at the Race start line off Nielsen Park at 11:45am and end an hour later at Sydney Heads. 

For those who grew up in the fifties and sixties there will be names to conjure with:  Fidelis, Astor, Margaret Rintoul, Pacha, Koomooloo all dressed in bunting and flying the battle flags of past glories.

Pride of place will be held by Archina and Kathleen Gillett, two of the nine boats that sailed the very first race in 1945.

Built in 1939, in many ways Kathleen Gillett epitomises the distance that ocean racing has come in those sixty years.  It is hard to imagine the owner of a modern ocean racer moving aboard with the wife and kids but that is exactly what marine artist Jack Earl did for the duration of the War.  

In 1947 they sailed her around the world, only the second Australian yacht to do so.  And after Jack eventually sold her Kathleen Gillett, she earned her keep trading in the Torres Strait and housing croc hunting expeditions.  Now Kathleen Gillett leads a more stately life at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney’s Darling Harbour, having been purchased by the Norwegian government, restored and donated to the nation as a bicentennial gift.

Cooroyba, another yacht from the same era, was built in 1937 and came second in the 1955 Sydney Hobart Race.  Her present owner, Stewart Reed, who plans to enter her in the 2005 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race to mark the 51st anniversary of her achievement, has lovingly restored her. 

Landfall, built of Huon Pine in 1936 has quite a place in world yachting history.  She was the first boat outside the United States built to the design of a promising young design team called Sparkman and Stephens.  S&S was to become a euphemism for fast, graceful yachts that somehow seemed to possess an aesthetic beauty that transcended their performance on the racetrack.

Keep an eye open for the little Aurora, which sailed in the 1947 and 1948 races under the name of Aloha.  She is just 34 feet 6 inches long, including her bowsprit, and can’t have been the most comfortable ride.  She certainly wasn’t the fastest.  In 1947 she took 8 days 3 hours and 11 minutes to reach Hobart, setting a race record no-one wants to break.

The varnished mahogany hull of Koomooloo will also stand out.  In 1968 she won the Sydney Hobart on handicap and after a seven year restoration is heading south again with the rest of the race fleet at the 1.10pm start, sailing as Ray White Unlimited Koomooloo. 

Each boat has its own story, of glory and despair, epic storms and exotic anchorages.  Fidelis, the 61 footer that won line honours in 1966 by a record margin and then went on to victories around the Pacific.  Lahara all but had the race won in 1951 until becalmed close to the Tasmanian coast.

Boats from every decade will be there.  Metung, Margaret Rintoul, Lolita from the 50’s. Astor, Pacha, Moonbird from the 60’s, Nike and Suraya from the 70’s and Carnaval and UBS Wild Thing from the 80’s and 90’s.

In a way UBS Wild Thing sums up how much the Hobart has evolved, from a cruise in company to a high tech, high cost grand prix event complete with sponsors.  From the days when boats routinely took shelter when the weather turned foul to professional crews who push their boats hard, sometimes until they break.  You just can’t see Captain John Illingworth, who won the first Hobart in the sturdy Rani, or any of his contemporaries, calling a boat ‘Wild Thing’.

It has been a long voyage, and the Parade of Sail will be a wonderful chance for spectators to view the design and philosophical landmarks along the way.

OzBoyz Challenge Press Release - A Statement from Yachting Australia

2004 NSW Sailors of the Year announced

The NSW Sailor of the Year awards were announced yesterday. Pictured above: Yachting Australia Head Coach Victor Kovalenko (centre) with the NSW Sailor of the Year Award winners Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page and the NSW Youth Sailor of the Year winners Nathan Outteridge and Ayden Menzies.

Moloney looking more positive - Vendee Globe day 43

RACE POSITIONS 0930 GMT: SKANDIA 8th, but good gains on VIRBAC now less than 3 degrees of longitude east, and more than 20 miles put on PROFORM behind him. PRB and BONDUELLE just 3 miles apart at front.

QUOTE OF THE DAY FROM NICK: ‘a small ray of sunshine and blue sky overhead earlier this morning...first time for days...’

RACE UPDATE DAY GOING IN TO 43rd DAY

COUNTING THE COST ON THE HUMAN BODY: Nick commented earlier this morning that for other than a couple of days in the Tropics he has not taken off his Musto oilskins or more recently Survival Suit. ‘Not quite sure how the other guys get down to their thermals and in their sleeping bags...I am ready in my kit most of the time...my legs are also disappearing, I’ve just got two little pins now!’. Lack of exercise can be a real problem for the legs on 3 months living in a 5 metre space!

NO SUCH THING AS A QUIET PERIOD: The last 24 hours has included a crash gybe under autopilot, endless bailing of water from inside the boat until a big leak through a winch was spotted, more housekeeping, sail changes, weather decisions to make, and so many more jobs and details...so in case you were thinking that when its not a drama its relaxing...

SOME BLUE SKY ABOVE AND SOME BLUE SKY THINKING: Nick spotted ‘a small ray of sunshine and blue sky overhead earlier this morning...first time for days...’. The Indian Ocean has lived up to its reputation, sometimes known in France as ‘the land of the shadows’, grey, cold and rough. One little moment of sunshine can be a great feeling, and Nick starting to take a more positive view on the future, for one thing conditions since the start have gone how he imagined, and that means it should only get better....’Before the start I was worried about the Doldrums being tough, and sure enough it was. I thought that Saint Helena high would be difficult, and it was. I expected the Indian Ocean to be really rough, and sure enough it was. But I also expected the Pacific Ocean to be a glamour – so hopefully it will be!’

AMAZING MATCH RACE FOR FIRST PLACE with less than 3 miles between PRB and BONDUELLE, but even more surprising they are actually that far apart on the water not just in the rankings. Once again sailing in sight of each other – what a match race! Or is it a team race?! Not great news for ECOVER and VMI now 400 and 300 miles behind the leaders. The entire leading quartet are now sailing upwind, which has been very rare in their Vendée Globe so far.

Nick’s group of Virbac, Skandia and Proform all sailing along the North eastern side of a depression that is filing underneath them, and that will be the dominant feature over the next two days.