Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: Everyone has a story to tell
by RSHYR Media 29 Dec 2016 10:43 GMT
29 December 2016
The trickle of boats finishing the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has now turned into a downpour of yachts with the re-appearance of wind in the Derwent River after a 24 hour halt.
Terra Firma, M3 and Ragamuffin led the charge early this morning, followed by Triton and KLC Bengal 7 once the breeze had well and truly filled in at 10 knots for a nice spinnaker run into the finish line.
Each boat that arrives into Constitution Dock has a story to tell, but the recurring theme was how long each had to sit in no wind for. After the great wind in Storm Bay, the unavoidable parking lot in the Derwent
Triton didn't put up a jib at all after turning right out of Sydney Heads on Monday afternoon. An interesting fact for a race that is quite regularly dominated by southerly winds.
"At 6:30pm on Monday night, we were surfing at about 20 knots, and then the clew and tack blew out, so the kite was just out there flapping," Scott Alle of Triton recalled. He was laughing about how he tried to retrieve what was left of the Number 3 spinnaker with a boat hook.
"It wasn't a tough race, it was a tiring race."
KLC Bengal 7's Japanese crew were enjoying some fresh fruit on the dock after spending hours in the Derwent.
"It was very difficult current, we had to really manage how strong it was in the river," commented Yutaka Takagi, navigator on KLC Bengal.
"There were three times where we sat in no wind, for at least one hour each. It was such a long time."
But this has not dampened their enthusiasm for the race: "I always get excited for the start. There isn't this kind of race back in Japan. Having 90 boats on the start line together, it's so motivating! We're always so excited for the race."
Another one done and dusted (by Jim Gale, RSHYR media)
Adrienne Cahalan, Australia's most celebrated yachtswoman, has arrived in Hobart aboard the Brenton Fischer skippered TP52 Ragamuffin, to cement her place as the first woman ever to compete in 25 Sydney Hobart Yacht Races.
And like all the others, this 25th race has been a mixed bag. No real terrors this year, and mercifully brief time working to windward, but if ever there was a race of two halves this has been it.
Blisteringly fast running and reaching most of the first half, and frustratingly slow in the second half for yachts in the 50 to 65 foot range.
"I prayed for an exciting race and this was that," Cahalan says. "We knew there were going to be some tricky bits, particularly at the end. It was fast, wet and wild at first, particularly on these boats."
Unfortunately it was a little too fast for one crucial moment on the first night. Ragamuffin dove into a wave and emerged with a shredded spinnaker.
"After that, we were playing catch-up, but without that sail we were down a couple of knots. We worked hard though, and eventually recovered.
"Actually we were quite happy with the second half of the race, it suited us. We sailed well through the transition zones and caught back some time. Because we had that sail problem, we missed the gate into Bass Strait, and after that there were three distinct fleets.
"It's worked well for me before - and sometimes it hasn't, but I'm philosophical - some of it is out of your control."
Cahalan feels for her former team mates on Wild Oats XI, forced to retire.
"Anyone who retires, it is a terrible feeling. It makes you sick in the stomach. The Oatley family put a lot of time and effort into that boat."
She describes this 72nd Rolex Sydney Hobart as a classic big boat race and having raced on both Wild Oats XI and Perpetual LOYAL she is happy for Anthony Bell.
"I was disappointed they took the record, because that was mine," she smiles. Cahalan navigated Wild Oats XI to her 2005 and 2012 records.
Around midday yesterday, Ragamuffin parked herself off Tasman Light while her rivals parked in Storm Bay, but eventually they got going again. By taking a very unusual route close to Bruny Island they managed to creep up the flaccid Derwent without another stop.
"It was a long trip, but quite a good trip. Obviously the first night didn't go as planned but we're here. We enjoyed the race and we thought we sailed well in the second half of the race."
And now that she has completed 25, what does she think about, say, Tony Cable's passing 50 this year?
"I'm not that mad," Cahalan laughs.
Tony Cable sails into record with number 51 (by RSHYR media)
The 2016 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has provided Tony Cable with two line honours, an overall victory, lifetime membership of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia - and a wife.
It's not bad for a short, fat, bald bloke who notched up a record 51st start in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's iconic race aboard Duende. It's more than any other sailor.
Cable first entered the race as an 18-year-old teenager in 1961, and was a young man completely taken with the sport and the thrill of ocean racing. It's a love affair that has seen him return to one of the world's most gruelling ocean races a further 50 times since his first crossing of Bass Strait. It's nearly as many as the race has been running – 72 years.
"I keep coming back because I like the sport. I live close to the yacht club and been involved for many years. I never thought for one moment that I wanted to do the Hobart race 51 times.
"To me, I like sailing and particularly the ocean racing arm of it. I started at 18, but a year or two before I'd been sailing in the ocean and all the races out of Sydney. I kept on getting berths with various crews and it is very enjoyable."
Cable's teenage years have long surpassed him and a 52nd Hobart is still in question, but the relationship with his crewmates is as strong as ever...Even if he was born closer to the creation of television than that of the iPhone.
"There's no privileges on this boat (Duende), we're all good mates and we have a good time together," he smiles. The young blokes like to have a shot at me and I tell them to pull their socks up - it's banter all the way.
"Whether I come back again remains to be seen, I'm not retiring but I might like to spend some time with my wife!"
Although he jokes that this race allows he and wife Ada to have a reprieve from each other year on year, Cable fondly recalls their first encounter was on the eve of the 1967 Sydney Hobart. He adds that Ada knew what she was getting into from the very beginning.
"When I first took her out, we went sailing before the 1967 Sydney Hobart, I better get that date right! We had a picnic after we'd finished up at the boat in a nice sunny bay on a Sunday.
"Her first time on the water was on a pre-Hobart boat, so she could never complain that she didn't know about it. She had a choice then and she didn't take up the opportunity to give the whole thing away.
"Funnily the boat was named 'Fare Thee Well'. It would have been a great time for her to say 'Goodbye Tony and fare thee well!'
With a wife that was happy to let her husband sail off over the horizon each December, Cable recalls line honours in 1981 aboard Vengeance and a line honours and overall victory with Sovereign in 1987 as the highlights of his 51 starts.
"From a statistics standpoint, 1981 and 1987 were highlights. Over the years I have come first, second, third and fourth on handicap. So if I had to give it away I would say that I had a bit of luck on my coat."
While his crew will most likely enjoy a night celebrating inside the preferred watering holes of weary sailors in Hobart, Cable is hoping for a more docile end to this year's campaign.
"I'm going to go and see the gardens tomorrow morning and in the afternoon the opera."
He may not have confirmed his attendance in the 2017 race yet, but there is little doubt that the short, fat, bald man, otherwise known as 'Glark Cable' will sail again.
Another Dose of Rolex Sydney Hobart for Chutzpah (by Jim Gale, RSHYR media)
Melbournian Bruce Taylor's downwind flier, Chutzpah, is the first of the 40 footers to arrive in Hobart, crossing the line 30 minutes ahead of her divisional arch rivals, Elena Nova and Simply Fun.
This was the downwind Rolex Sydney Hobart all three yachts were designed for, and Taylor and his long-standing crew made the most of it, though once again overall Hobart victory has eluded them.
"At the outset we thought the big boats were a good chance of doing the double," Taylor said dockside. "We hoped they would get slowed down in a couple of calm spots, but unfortunately that didn't happen."
Instead it was Chutzpah that came to grief.
"The first afternoon and evening we had a fantastic drag race with Simply Fun. We caned them last year, but they've done a lot of sailing together since then.
"We were fairly conservative with our A2 spinnaker, because we figured we'd need it a lot. When it got to 30 knots we thought we should take it down to preserve it, but the moment we did, Simply Fun took off so we put it back up again.
"We sailed really well through the night, but at dawn we just had no wind. We were doing circles at one stage, and it went on for three hours.
"We also ran out of wind for a while at the bottom of Bass Strait and in Storm Bay.
"This boat is a rocket ship, the crew is good, tactically, we couldn't have done anything else, but if you ever stop in a Hobart race you cannot win it."
What made this 2016 Rolex Sydney Hobart special for Taylor was that two of his crew, James Permezel and Bruce's son Drew were doing their 25th race, a big milestone for any yachty. Drew and Bruce become the first father/son duo to do 25 Hobarts together.
"It was a terrific race, not hard at all," Permezel said. "The most fun was coming down the Tassie coast. We had five hours of hard reaching, doing 22 knots. We could see the miles slipping under us, thinking we're getting there, we're getting there, until we got to Tasman Island and it just died. But that's life.
"We've all done so many Hobarts and other races together we're looking for an 'Old Crew Allowance' next year," Drew jokes.
"But this is a brilliant sport. In what other sport can a father and son compete in the same high level event? You couldn't do it in basketball, but then I couldn't do anything in basketball," laughs the five foot something sailor.
Drew is confident he will be back next year, but what about the old man?
"I suspect we all will. The forecast was so promising, but yet again there is still unfinished business.
"I think we've held every position in the top ten except the one that counts, so that is still out there as bait," Drew ends.
"We're the first 40 footer here so we figure we did okay," says Bruce. "We didn't do any damage; no-one lost any fingers."
Was the Rolex Sydney Hobart worth it? (by Jim Gale, RSHYR media)
When Sweden's Jonas Grander decided two years ago he was going to compete in the 72nd Rolex Sydney Hobart, his friends thought he was joking - and when he realised he was going to have to by a boat unseen to do it, they thought he was a bit crazy.
Still, crazy or not, Jonas stepped aboard his new Elliott 44 Matador, formerly known as Veloce, just 10 days before the start of the race. Now, 13 days later, he has stepped off Matador onto a dock in Hobart.
So was he crazy after all, or was it all worthwhile?
"This is absolutely the best way to celebrate Christmas," Grander beams. "It was far from what we expected. We expected the worst and it wasn't that bad. I think we were lucky.
"There was not as much sunshine as we hoped for, but to see dolphins coming up around the boat in the middle of the night was beautiful.
"The opening day was wonderful. We had too much sail up when the wind increased, and we were slow to get it down, but it was wonderful surfing, 20 knots or more, just surfing.
We basically never had the jib up: just reaching or with the gennaker up.
"I have never experienced anything like the start. I was steering, so I was so focussed, I don't remember much, but there were so many people there," he said.
"And when we came here to the finishing line it was amazing as well. All the people cheering you. The best part of the race was going out of Sydney and coming into Hobart."
Grander's plan is to keep Matador and race her in a major race somewhere in the world each year. He is, fortunately, pleased with how the boat performed.
"It is a very good boat for these conditions," he said, "very good upwind and reaching. There were some failures, but it always happens with second hand boats. You fix them and eventually you have a boat that works."
Maybe we will see Matador again.
"These were Swedish conditions," Grander laughs, "so we have to come back and do a proper Hobart. We can't just do this one and go home again.
"Just to be out sailing was fantastic. We realised that we like racing, but to be out there just sailing, seeing the dolphins, the clear skies and stars, laughing with your friends; we just love sailing. If it goes fast we're happy, if doesn't, we're happy anyway."
Visit the official race website at rolexsydneyhobart.com and for comprehensive coverage of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, please visit our sister site, Sail-World.com.