Sulky Derwent can't dampen a great 2016 Rolex Sydney Hobart
by Jim Gale, RSHYR media 28 Dec 2016 08:15 GMT
28 December 2016
Four hours drifting in the Derwent River was not how Jim Cooney, the skipper of the Volvo Open 70 Maserati, planned to finish the 2016 Rolex Sydney Hobart - earlier this morning he had expected to cross the line around 6am, inside Wild Oats XI's 2012 record time – that was before the wind died on the river.
Maserati finally fell past the big yellow Rolex Buoy for the finish off Kings Pier at 10:04am. But Cooney is still happy. He and his crew have had a ball for the last two days in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's annual race.
"This race was written for the V70s," a relaxed Cooney said dockside. "Maserati behaved like a dinghy out there. We were picking the waves and throwing it around. It was an absolute joy.
"It's (fast reaching and running in strong north-easterly and easterlies) is what these boats were built for and what they excel at. No boat has been built, though, for the last four hours. It was a shame to end it like that after such a blistering race."
Cooney admits that even he was surprised at how well the V70s went this year. "They were setting the pace. We were beside Scallywag until about midnight, and they couldn't even catch Giacomo.
"The crews on these boats know how hard you can push them. They drive them harder than you would yourself. It's like a car. Most of us are too timid to push our cars to the limit, but cornering and braking they have lots of reserves. The same is true of the V70s.
"One of our guys did a Volvo race on this boat. He was all over it. He knew just how hard to go push and plough through waves and still come out at 23 knots on the other side.
"It is very exciting. I know now that these boats are very hard to break."
Just as long as you don't make any mistakes, that is. Like the super maxis, the V70s are strictly the realm of professional sailors. They are dangerous beasts, putting immense strains on rig and hull.
"My previous boat (the perennial maxi) Brindabella was a lot more forgiving. You make a mistake, she sort of groans and leans over, and lets you get away with it. These boats don't."
Nevertheless, Cooney says the race was pretty much incident free on Maserati.
"The worst thing was that Waratah rugby prop forward Jeremy Tilse fell out of his bunk and onto me. It had to be the biggest bloke on the boat!"
The Agony of a Rolex Sydney Hobart
They say if the Rolex Sydney Hobart ended at Tasman Light the list of winners over the last seven decades would read entirely differently.
But it doesn’t. It finishes in Hobart, 11 miles up the cruel Derwent River from Storm Bay.
Cruel rivers are usually known for their destructive floods or raging white waters. The Derwent’s cruelty is its indifference to the hopes and morale of sailors. It just shrugs its shoulders and goes to bed.
The river had behaved so well early on, driving Perpetual LOYAL to its record-breaking victory at 2:30 in the morning, Giacomo to club house leadership an hour later and then Scallywag, all well inside the 2012 race record.
Down the river, or fast closing at the mouth of the river, another three boats, Black Jack, Maserati, and Beau Geste were moving along nicely, still with a chance to break the old record themselves.
But the rain had arrived in Hobart with Scallywag, and the breeze bid us all good night.
With the lights of Hobart in sight, the three spent the rest of the night drifting aimlessly.
It would not be until 9 o’clock that the fourth finishing boat, Black Jack, would finally slump across the line.
Her owner, Peter Harburg summed up the modified V70’s night.
“It was terrible out there. It’s really frustrating for a sailor in a race to be not moving. We had the anchor down for two, two and a half hours, down in the bay, less than a mile from the line.”
“Sandy Bay?” he was asked.
“No,” he sighed. “We call it the Bay of Certain Death.”
Overall, though, Harburg was happy to finish fourth in a race of this status.
The pall spread beyond the river, enveloping CQS in Storm Bay.
“We have no wind whatsoever,” CQS crewman Michael Rummel said as the morning clouds lightened, but would not lift. “We could use some breeze. We are so looking forward to getting on land and having a hot breakfast.”
Still, he says, the team is in good spirits, and despite some thrills and challenges along the way skipper Ludde Ingvall retains his faith in the philosophy behind his radical yacht. They have learned a lot about how to drive this boat, and there will be changes, but this was always the beginning of a 10 month evolutionary program.
Beau Geste's cloudy bay arrival (by Lisa Ratcliff)
Beau Geste's sprint south in the annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race finished with a slow crawl up Hobart's sometimes-cruel Derwent River in an early morning breeze too trifling to combat an outgoing tide and help them fight off a late challenge for fourth over the line.
Like their new sponsor Cloudy Bay, Beau Geste arrived into a cloudy, still bay at dawn - a time of day when the local breeze is notorious for shutting down. They remained in irons a couple of miles from the finish line for close to five hours in the rain and at one point had an anchor on deck ready to deploy to slow the Botin 80's drift backwards with the tide.
Racing for New Zealand, Beau Geste finished fifth from a fleet of 83 yachts with an elapsed time of 1:21:03:34 for the 628 nautical mile race of contrasts.
Once berthed, skipper Aaron Rowe said, "It's a race that throws up crazy things. In Bass Strait we had beautiful conditions, dolphins and 15 knots reaching in east-sou'east 20 knot breezes and the wind built nicely all the way down the east Tassie coast. Then three miles from the end we fell into a hole.
"Black Jack was eight miles behind us at Tasman Light, came up on us with breeze and snuck around us while we sat within view of the finish from 4.45am until we crossed just after 10am. It was a really fast and fantastic race and we were on really good time, including the race record, until this morning. It was a great experience."
On her first Sydney Hobart race, which only allowed for around four hours sleep from 45, food stylist and author Donna Hay said, "It was amazing to be in a race so fast and not too rough, though I think the finish really tested everyone's spirits. I think I can count my blessings.
"We just about went through all the food, but that's how I planned it. When the boys needed my help I gave it, otherwise I stayed out of the way. There wasn't a lot of sleep; after a while we kept our boots and wet weather gear on and just curled up on a sail bag.
"I'm absolutely running on adrenaline. It still hasn't sunk in... it's hard to believe I'm here."
On whether she'd line up again there was no delay: "Absolutely! It's going to be hard to go back to my day job. You spend a lot of time as a crew on the rail and helping each other, and my job was keeping the boys' spirits up. We did some long hours together."
It was the second Rolex Sydney Hobart finish for Karl Kwok's Beau Geste, skippered this time by Sydney based Rowe, and the first for Hay who well and truly pulled her weight as a 'floater', meaning she wasn't part of the watch system and had to be awake whenever needed, to keep the crew of 16 nourished and hydrated.
On the first night after the 1pm start from Sydney Harbour and in fast nor'easters that set up Perpetual Loyal's race record annihilation, Hay and the crew barely slept a wink. Keeping the 80-foot dinghy on its feet required the full racing team's efforts throughout the night.
Hay was also responsible for stepping up the quality of the usual on-board fare; taking the Kiwi and Aussie crew from freeze-dried style camping food heated in a plastic bag to five stars – homemade Ginger Thai curry for dinner and bacon and egg pies for breakfast.
Cloudy Bay has signed on for an extended partnership with Beau Geste that will see them on the start line for the 2017 Rolex Sydney Hobart, and very likely other yachting events in between.
On the boat's successful Hobart arrival Moët Hennessy Australia and New Zealand managing director Andrew McLaren said, "We congratulate Aaron, Gavin Brady and the crew of Beau Geste for delivering the boat and themselves to the finish line safely and in good time. They sailed smartly and looked after the first-timers on board.
"We look forward to developing Cloudy Bay's partnership with Beau Geste, a new area for the business and one that has great synergy."
Finally CQS crosses Rolex Sydney Hobart finish line (by Di Pearson, RSHYR media)
Aboard Ludde Ingvall's super maxi CQS this afternoon, crew member Michael Rummel told how they were in the Derwent not too far from the Rolex Hobart finish line at 6.15am, with the crew never expecting to still be there staring at the same line late afternoon into the afternoon, but that is exactly what happened.
"I thought we'd finish this morning," a buoyant Rummel said, despite their day long sit-in in the Derwent. "We finally finished just after 4pm," the Sydney Hobart first timer said of their 4.13.12pm finish this afternoon.
For Ingvall's cousin and financier of the boat, Sir Michael Hintze, every minute was pure joy.
"The start was breathtaking – even the bit where the hydraulics didn't work and we nearly capsized in Sydney Harbour.
"Then it was exciting sailing down the coast and frustrating sitting, not moving for hours on the river looking at the finish line," he said of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's 628 nautical mile race.
"It was exactly what I expected from the race, even Bass Strait. And yes, I would absolutely do it again," Sir Michael finished.
Asked would he be back for another Hobart, Ludde Ingvall, CQS's owner and Sydney Hobart line honours winner of 2000 and 2004, said: "This is the race of all races. I could say now I would never do it again, but then tell my wife tomorrow 'I'm going again'. It's a real test of one's manhood."
This after he told how slow they were to start: "The problem with the engine stalling, the problem with the foil.
"We learnt a lot – and this is the race to learn a lot from. We still have a long way to go. We are taking the boat to New Zealand now to do some work on her and then we will take it to the Mediterranean to race," he said as the crew relaxed over a few beers and the famous local scallop pies.
For comprehensive coverage of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, please visit our sister site, Sail-World.com.