the worst sydney to hobart yacht race

SAILING TEAM

CO-NAVIGATOR

---/---/---/---

'87,'89,'90,'92,'94,'95,'96,'00,'01,'02,'03,'04,'05,'07,'08,'09,'10,'11,'12,'13, 11,'12,'13,11,'12,'1.

• Sailor.com.au
• May 20, 2019

WAS 1998 THE MOST DIFFICULT SYDNEY TO HOBART RACE.

Updated: Dec 24, 2019

While the 1998 Sydney to Hobart was the most deadliest Sydney to Hobart yacht race it wasn't the most difficult race, it ranks as the 4th most difficult.

In 1998, at the starters’ gun, 114 yachts took off through Sydney Harbour and out into the Tasman Sea, to make the 628-nautical mile passage to the south-east of Tasmania.

In what became the deadliest incident in Australian sailing history six lives had been lost. Three men, Mike Bannister, Jim Lawler and John Dean, drowned when their life raft failed, after the sinking of their yacht Winston Churchill. Glyn Charles, a former British Olympian, was swept over board from Sword of Orion and perished. Two died on Business Post Naiad, the skipper Bruce Guy, heart attack, and crew member Phil Skeggs who succumbed to injuries suffered when the boat rolled.

More than 50 sailors had to be rescued in extreme conditions.

Bass Strait can be the worst stretch of water ever crossed or it can be a pleasant walk in the park. It's unpredictable, notorious for shipwrecks and a relatively shallow stretch of water that separates southeastern Australia and Tasmania.

While there are lots of discussion around the 1998 S2H race it wasn't the toughest on record. Lets look at the conditions and brutality of four Sydney to Hobart races 1984, 1993, 1998 and 2004 and see how the numbers stack-up.

1984 - THE SECOND MOST DIFFICULT

The 1984 race had 151 starters and only 46 finished the race, that's 30.5% finished the race. The conditions were terrible with the average elapsed time for the fleet being 18.6% worse than normal conditions. According to sailor.com.au the Difficulty Index was 2.339 for 1984, ranked second most difficult.

1993 - THE MOST DIFFICULT RACE EVER

The 1993 race had 104 starters and 38 finished the race, only 36.5% finished the race. The conditions were brutal with the average elapsed time for the fleet being 30.3% worse than normal conditions. According to sailor.com.au the Difficulty Index was 2.421 for 1993, ranked the most difficult race in the history of the Sydney to Hobart.

According to Iain Smith, a crew member on Wild Oats XI, "the 1993 race was generally regarded as the toughest on record. The only difference [to 1998] was that there was fortunately no loss of life that year. There were massive retirements and damage to yachts."

In 1993 an unusually strong low pressure depression of 986 hpa developed stretching down the Queensland coast across the Tasman sea to the south island of New Zealand back across to Tasmania with the centre in Bass Strait.

The winning yacht "Ninety seven" recorded 78 knots (144 km/h) of wind either side of the eye of the low off Gabo Island on the night of the 27th. Dec. [ wikipedia ]

1998 - THE MOST DEADLIEST, AND THE FOURTH MOST DIFFICULT

The 1998 race had 114 starters and 44 finished the race, only 38.6% finished this infamous race. The conditions were brutal with the average elapsed time for the fleet being 6.2% worse than normal conditions, but the weather system was brutal in its impact. According to sailor.com.au the Difficulty Index was 1.928 for 1998, this race ranked the fourth most difficult. It ranks as the deadliest incident in Australian sailing history.

The 2004 race had 116 starters and 59 finished the race, only 50.9% finished the race. The conditions were brutal with the average elapsed time for the fleet being 21.9% worse than normal conditions. According to sailor.com.au the Difficulty Index was 1.955 for 2004, ranked third most difficult.

The chart below highlights the seven most difficult races in the sydney to hobart they were in order: (1) 1993 (2) 1984 (3) 2004 (4) 1998 (5) 1988 (6) 1997 (8) 2015

For more on the Sailor.com.au Ocean Rating see " HOW THE WORLD'S FIRST SAILOR OCEAN RATING SYSTEM WORKS "

#SOR #RATING #S2H

Recent Posts

OWN A YACHT RACE TEAM, FOR LOVE OR MONEY?

SEEING AROUND CORNERS; GET SUPERPOWERS FOR THE NEXT SYDNEY TO HOBART YACHT RACE

THINK YOU'RE TOUGH. MEET THE BLOKES THAT MAKE YOU LOOK SOFT.

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

1998 Tragedy Haunts Sydney-Hobart Race

By Christopher Clarey

• Dec. 24, 2008

Silence is hard to come by in the annual Sydney-to-Hobart race. There is the drone or the shriek of the wind, the crash of the waves against the hulls, the ominous harmonics of equipment under great stress, and the shouts and mutters from the crews as they try, once again, to sail their yachts of various shapes and prices from the majesty of Sydney Harbor to the haven of Hobart across the Tasman Sea.

But when this year’s race begins on Friday, silence will be a requirement. It has been 10 years since six men died in the storm-swept 1998 edition of this Australian institution, and a minute of silence before the start and another after the finish will honor those sailors as well as others who perished in the race in earlier years.

“I think it is an appropriate way to show our respects to those who didn’t make it; I’m not sure if there’s any other better way to do it,” said Ed Psaltis, who was skipper of the small yacht that won overall honors in 1998 despite the horrific conditions that some ashen competitors compared to a hurricane.

A single wreath will also be laid in Hobart by Matt Allen, commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, which organizes the race, and Clive Simpson, his counterpart at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania. Allen and other club officials have contacted the families of the sailors who died in 1998 and received tentative commitments from some family members to be in attendance in Hobart.

“What happened is part of the history of the race — you can’t deny it,” Psaltis said. “One of the guys who died in 1998, Jim Lawler, was a very close friend of my father’s, so it was a personal thing for me.”

He added: “And he was no average yachtie. He was a very accomplished seaman, so to have him perish really knocked me for six. It just showed that even if you are among the best, you can still get taken out. What it shows you, above all, is that the sea is the boss, and you are its servant and don’t even try to think otherwise.”

Larry Ellison, the American billionaire who took line honors in that 1998 race in his maxi Sayonara, gleaned enough amid the 80-knot winds and 60-foot waves to conclude that he never wanted to race the 628 nautical miles from Sydney to Hobart again.

He has been true to his word. He has since focused his big sailing ambitions and budgets on the America’s Cup and other inshore regattas.

But Australians like Psaltis have a more elemental connection to their island nation’s premier yacht race, which was first contested in 1945, just months after the end of World War II. Psaltis, 47, like many a Sydney-to-Hobart skipper, has a regular job that has nothing to do with sailing: He is a partner in Sydney with the accounting firm of Ernst & Young.

Yet despite the torments of 1998 and of other stormy, hazardous years, he has continued to put himself on the starting line. This will be his 28th Sydney-Hobart race, and the 10-member crew on his modified Farr 40, still named Midnight Rambler, will include three other men who sailed with him in 1998: Chris Rockell, John Whitfeld and Bob Thomas, Psaltis’s co-owner and longtime navigator.

“Look, after 1998 I certainly thought very hard about it postrace, along the lines of: I’ve got a wife and three kids. What am I trying to do, to try and kill myself in a stupid yacht race?” Psaltis said. “But I firmly believe that the human spirit wants challenges and actually craves challenges, and to go through life controlled in a regimented, risk-free environment is, I think, no life at all.”

The Hobart — as its participants often call it — is, however, a more regimented race than it was 10 years ago. Safety requirements have been significantly increased and, as with all offshore races, safety equipment has improved. More of it has been made compulsory, including Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons.

At least 50 percent of each crew must take a course on safety at sea, and 50 percent must have completed a Category 1 ocean race. Sailors under 18 are no longer permitted to take part. The Australian authorities have revised and upgraded their contingency plans for rescue and emergency situations.

“The truth is, 1998 was the biggest maritime rescue operation in the history of Australia,” Allen said. “So I think it’s made people focus.”

He added: “You don’t have, as I’ve seen in some other races around the world, people getting together for one race of the year. Pretty much most of the crews in the Sydney Hobart are people racing pretty much continuously.”

The emphasis on safety has increased costs.

“It probably costs about 60,000 Australian dollars to get the average boat trumped up to do the race,” Psaltis said, or about $41,000. “In 1998, it was 30,000 to 40,000. The cost of sails has gone up. Everything has gone up. But safety is one more issue making it harder.”

The surprise is that the new regulations and the global economic downturn have not affected participation rates. Although there have been some high-profile withdrawals, including a Russian maxi called Trading Network, the fleet of 104 yachts for the race this year is the second-highest number of entrants since 1998.

“I think it’s because people have built boats a while ago or ordered boats a while ago, and that’s probably a reflection of earlier economic times,” Allen said. “People have boats, and they might as well go sailing in them.”

Among those who plan to sail is John Walker, who was already the oldest skipper in the race’s history and is now 86. Rob Fisher and Sally Smith, the children of an avid Sydney-Hobart competitor, will become the first brother and sister to skipper yachts in the race in the same year.

Wild Oats XI, the 98-foot maxi owned by the Australian Bob Oatley, has taken line honors the last three years and is a heavy favorite to become the first yacht to do it four consecutive times. Its crew had to scramble to make final-hour repairs last year, but there have been no such dramas in the run-up to this year’s race.

“These boats are clearly faster than any other boats,” Allen said of the maxis. “It’s more a boat-management issue and seamanship issue for them, and absolutely, to get it there four times in a row unscathed would be a great tribute to the skills of the crew.”

But then, Wild Oats XI has never had to sail through what Ellison and Psaltis endured in 1998.

“We got through it, but only through the skin of our teeth,” Psaltis said. “For 10 hours, we were surviving rather than racing. It was the worst I’ve seen and something I don’t want to see again. It certainly did change our lives.”

• SYDNEY, NSW
• MELBOURNE, VIC
• HOBART, TAS
• BRISBANE, QLD
• ADELAIDE, SA
• CANBERRA, ACT

Sydney to Hobart tragedy: Heroes, survivors reflect

• A Current Affair
• SYDNEY TO HOBART

Send your stories to [email protected]

Auto news : Billions needed to maintain roads as councils struggle to find cash.

Top Stories

ATO's tax warning for Aussies ahead of July 1

'All engines failed': pilot's frantic mayday call

Wolves attack woman who went jogging in safari zoo

Boulder unlike any encountered before spotted on Mars

Terror in the Tasman: Remembering the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, 20 years on

It began, as they all do, at 1pm on Boxing Day in Sydney Harbour.

Just 48 hours later, six lives had been lost in what became the deadliest incident in Australian sailing history.

Less than half of all starters made it to the finish line. Some 24 boats were completely abandoned or written off and 55 sailors had to be rescued, by both aircraft and Royal Australian Navy ships. In all, it was our nation’s biggest ever peacetime rescue operation.

Twenty years on from the 1998 edition of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, Foxsports.com.au looks back at how the terrible tragedy unfolded.

At the starters’ gun, 115 yachts took off through Sydney Harbour and out into the Tasman Sea, to make the 628-nautical mile journey to the south-east of Tasmania.

Yet there were already troubling signs.

A few hours earlier, at the final briefing conducted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, sailors were warned of a low pressure system forming off the coast.

“It’s going to be very hard in Bass Strait, so get ready for a nasty one,” Bob Thomas, navigator and co-owner of AFR Midnight Rambler, told skipper Ed Psaltis in comments reported by Fairfax Media .

Don Buckley, a crew member on B52, spoke to NSW Police a month after the race .

“We had a last-minute update and ... the night before it had been pre-empted that perhaps the low was forming and that would be the only spanner in the works, that we might have some hard stuff,” Buckley said.

“It was hard to know how strong it would be but he (the team’s weather expert) certainly said, ‘you’ll get hammered’.

“Most people expect at some time in the Hobart race you’d have a southerly, and it’s just the cycle of the race. So I guess it didn’t ring any more alarm bells than, OK, it will hit us at some stage.

“We felt comfortable.”

Billionaire tech mogul Larry Ellison, a keen sailor, was skippering the yacht Sayonara, which eventually took line honours. But even he wasn’t expecting to get out as well as they did.

“After what was a beautiful day on Sydney Harbour the wind got more intense and the skies slowly, slowly darkened and I remember after 12 hours we were further ahead than the record holder was in 24 hours,” he told News Corp in 2009 .

“We were going twice as fast as the boat that had set the record on that race and I remember thinking, 'well that’s exciting, but what’s going on?’

“Sayonara was going over 21 knots and I kept saying, she’s not supposed to go that fast. As yet it was just a storm. We really didn’t know what we were getting into at all.”

The leaders began to enter the Bass Strait in the early morning of December 27; even smaller boats were travelling faster than anyone expected.

“It was a very fast ride. Our top speed was 21 knots, surfing a wave on an absolute knife-edge,” Psaltis told Fairfax Media .

“The yacht was going so fast there was a big rooster tail off the stern like a speedboat. We suffered two massive broaches during that period.

“They were really out-of-control capsizes – people in the water, absolute mayhem. Both times the little boat just jumped back up and kept going, showing how strong she was.”

On the 27th, the conditions just continued to worsen.

From 30, to 40, to 50 and then 60 knots in just minutes; the boats were battling horrendous winds, massive waves and the corresponding spray which made things incredibly difficult.

Overnight, some were lucky, like the late Gerry Schipper.

Schipper was a Victorian policeman who became a boat safety advocate after his experience in the 1998 race. His friend Tim Stackpool told ABC’s RN Breakfast in 2015 what happened when he went overboard while sailing on Challenge Again at around 1am.

“In the middle of the night, he was working on deck. He didn’t have any safety gear on; no buoyancy vest, he wasn’t attached to the deck. And he got washed overboard,” Stackpool said.

“He heard the call, ‘man overboard, man overboard’, and he found himself, in the middle of the night, huge seas, and just wondering how this boat was going to come and pick him up.

“He saw it disappearing into the distance, and the waves ... they’re like cliffs. So the boat would disappear and reappear as the waves washed over him.”

With no electronic positioning device - now a necessity for sailors - Schipper was left stranded in stormy seas.

“Then he remembered he had one of waterproof torches in his hand; that’s all he had to signal the crew to come and save him. Because of course they couldn’t see either, it was pitch black.

“He was in the water for half an hour; in the end it was a textbook rescue. They turned the boat around and they almost landed on top of him. They turned around ... so the weather would wash him into the boat.”

Gusts of wind were recorded at terrifying speeds of 90 knots (166km/h) around Wilson’s Promontory with crew members having to battle waves that some estimated reached heights of 30 metres.

“We just felt the boat roar up a wave and I think there were screams from the guy steering - ‘look out’. Then we just went straight over, upside down, and it was mayhem,” Don Buckley later recalled.

“It sounded like a motor accident. Just as loud, it was just horrific.”

After a particularly bad wave, Buckley and the crew tried to recover.

“When it came up it was probably worse than when we went down because we had a lot of water in it, and there was stuff everywhere. I was pinned. I had sailed came down on top of me and I was up to [my] neck in water.

“I was screaming at them to get the sails off me, so I could come out, all I wanted to do was run up the hatch.”

A stove top struck a female crew member in the head and she was trapped underwater. One man got his head stuck in the steering wheel and had to snap himself out of his safety harness; that left him 40 metres away from the boat. Fortunately he was able to swim back to safety.

Others weren’t so lucky. A former British Olympian, Glyn Charles, was swept over board from Sword of Orion and died.

Three men, Mike Bannister, Jim Lawler and John Dean, drowned when their life raft fell apart, following the sinking of their yacht Winston Churchill.

Two perished on Business Post Naiad; the skipper Bruce Guy, who is suspected of suffering a heart attack, and crew member Phil Skeggs who passed from injuries suffered when the boat rolled.

Those who were able to kept sailing towards Hobart; 44 yachts made it. Many others had to try and make their way to Eden, in southern New South Wales.

Barry Griffiths, a member of the Eden volunteer coastal patrol, told the ABC he worked a 32-hour shift to co-ordinate rescues on radios.

“There was a terrible lot of screaming. You could hear the desperation in some of the voices,” he said.

“Sometimes their radios went dead, and there could have been a multitude of reasons; [they] were dismasted, some lost power or had too much moisture getting into the radio.”

“I reckon looking out the window there that the top of the waves was nearly as high as this window. It was mountainous seas.”

Sayonara took line honours at around 8am on December 29 - but the victory celebrations were of course cancelled.

“This is not what racing is supposed to be,” Larry Ellison said after the race.

“Difficult, yes. Dangerous, no. Life-threatening, definitely not. I’d never have signed up for this race if I knew how difficult it would be.”

The billionaire still thinks about 1998.

“I think about it all the time. It was a life-changing experience,” he said a decade later.

“We knew there were boats sinking when we got in, we knew people were in trouble still out there in the midst of it and we were enormously grateful having made it.

“We were the first survivor to get in and finish the race. It was a race for survival, not for victory, trophies or anything like that.”

The 44th and final yacht to arrive, Misty, made it to Hobart on December 31. A day later, on Constitution Dock, a public memorial was held for the six lives lost.

Hugo van Kretschmar, commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (who organise the race), read out this statement:

“Mike Bannister, John Dean, Jim Lawler, Glyn Charles, Bruce Guy, Phil Skeggs.

“May the everlasting voyage you have now embarked on be blessed with calm seas and gentle breezes.

“May you never have to reef or change a headsail in the night.

“May your bunk be always warm and dry.”

If the same conditions seen in 1998 were facing the starters of 2018’s race, things would go much differently.

With better weather forecasts and more safety equipment required on board, the yachts would likely avoid the worst of the storm altogether and be better placed to deal with what does eventuate. Rob Kothe, who was on Sword of Orion in 1998, explained part of the difference to Sail World in 2008 .

“At the 12:30pm sked on Dec 27th 1998, the weather forecast read out by race control was winds up to 50 knots,” he said.

“On Sword of Orion we were experiencing 78 knots. Under racing rules we could not tell anyone, because we weren’t allowed to give other boats assistance by informing them of the weather ahead.

“We decided this was a life and death situation; it was not a game. We broke the rules to report to the wind strengths to the fleet, which soon reached 92 knots.

“It was too late to warn everyone. Many boats were close behind us, but about 40 boats retired to Eden as a result of our actions.

“Under today’s more sensible rules wind speeds above 40 knots have to be reported; therefore sudden unpredicted storm cells will not catch everyone unawares.

“Across the board, the equipment has improved, including better life jackets, better harnesses, personal EPIRBS. There’s also much better education and training. Better weather data and a change in the mind set of Race officials and race participants have made the biggest change, but all these moves have made racing safer.”

The tragic circumstances of 1998 have therefore helped save lives since then.

Twenty years on, a moment’s silence will be performed on race radio to remember the fallen.

• Yacht Clubs
• Classic Yachts
• Motor Yachts
• Sailing Yachts
• Superyachts
• Nautic Shows
• Amerisca’s Cup
• Sign in / Join

The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race 1998: Remembering a Deadly Storm

The fastnet yacht race tragedy of 1979, tracy edwards – maiden round the world skipper, joshua slocum: the mysterious disappearance of a sea pioneer/ full documentary, k1 britannia’s story – the kings yacht, oceanslab – race to zero emissions, riva 76′ bahamas super, the perfect balance – ferretti group, 50m schooner eleonora e struck and sunk by rescue vessel in…, rafa nadal captains a team in the e1, the formula 1…, “mayhem at lake george” annual boating event lives up to the…, candela c-8 flying above the waves, brabus shadow 900 | 300nm (550km) offshore in 9.5 hours , emirates team new zealand launched their prototype hydrogen-powered foiling chase boat…, the sailing sixties bbc documentary, j class yacht revival, 44cup calero marinas 2024 review, recap – j class world championship 2017, sailing 60 knots wind on a swan 57,  basque country international jet ski cup 2024, fuerteventura kitefoil international open cup 2024, patri mclaughlin sets new kitesurfing world record 72ft at jaws, sp80 – the boat designed to break the world sailing record, 2024 mubadala new york sail grand prix | day 2 live, 2024 mubadala new york sail grand prix | day 1 live, light winds and f1 | june 19th | america’s cup, alinghi red bull racing braves the weather in barcelona, raymarine flir m300 c series – thermal camera review, baltimore: ‘mass casualty event’ as bridge collapses after being hit by….

• Nautic Life

To mark the 20th anniversary of the deadly 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, Four Corners unearthed this archive episode investigating what happened in that fateful event. Six sailors died and five boats were lost when a terrifying storm hit Bass Strait during the 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Look back at this investigation by Debbie Whitmont, that retraces the horrific events that unfolded why it was so unexpected.

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

Rescue and salvage operation in the azores.

RECOMMENDED VIDEOS

The bulls battle it out | june 19th | america’s cup, editor picks, popular posts, sailgp christchurch bids farewell: coutts cites ‘minority groups’ as cause for..., 37th america’s cup preliminary regatta jeddah – day 1 live, 37th america’s cup preliminary regatta jeddah – day 3 live, popular category.

• Amerisca's Cup 58
• Tripulante 18 22
• Motor Yachts 3
• Sailing Yachts 3
• Life Style 3
• Nautic Magazine
• Advertising

• The Dictionary of Sydney
• Browse Entries

Sydney to Hobart yacht race

The dictionary of sydney was archived in 2021..

Persistent URL for this entry

To cite this entry in text, to cite this entry in a wikipedia footnote citation, to cite this entry as a wikipedia external link.

Sydney Harbour and boat races have gone together for a long time. One writer, referring to 'what may fairly be termed the national sport of the colony, boat-racing', has left us with a lyrical description of a typical race day on the harbour:

… the glancing waters, fresh with the breeze that prevailed throughout the day, were studded by a thousand boats of every description, all freighted with life and gaiety; and round the harbour, from every point commanding a view of the course prescribed for the contesting boats, gay parties were assembled. [1]

This was 26 January, Foundation Day (also known as Anniversary Day, now called Australia Day) in 1848, and it showed the sense of adventure and exhilaration associated with yachting that has continued to be felt on Sydney Harbour.

The most famous race that has emerged is the Sydney to Hobart, as it is locally known. The race covers 628 nautical miles, starting from Sydney Harbour at 1 pm on Boxing Day (26 December), as it has done for over six decades. It has been held every year since 1945, with the inaugural fleet of nine yachts growing to a record 371 starters in the 50th race in 1994 – the largest fleet in the world for a Category 1 Ocean Race. In 2007, 82 yachts took part.

Postwar celebration

It all began in 1945, when a group of Sydney yachtsmen started planning for a post-World War II cruise to Hobart. Captain John Illingworth, who was a British Royal Navy officer stationed in Sydney at the time, had been a keen racing yachtsman in Britain before the war. He bought the 39-foot (11.8-metre) Rani , and joined them.

Because of weather conditions, the race is rarely without incident: in the first, several of the boats were briefly 'lost' during the race, among them Rani , although it did complete the course to take both 'line' (first over the line) and 'handicap' (corrected time for type of yacht) honours.

In 1984, a fleet of 150 yachts started, but 104 retired in the face of 'strong to gale force' southerly winds that battered the fleet. In 1993, there were 110 starters, but only 38 finished: crews abandoned two yachts as they sank, while the skipper of another was washed overboard and spent five hours in high seas. Luckily he was spotted by a search vessel and picked up by another yacht.

Stormy weather

In 1998 the race became a major disaster, when wild storms took their toll. The 115-yacht fleet sailed into the worst weather in the Sydney to Hobart's history. Six sailors died and just 44 yachts survived the gale-force winds and mountainous seas to finish the race. Two crew members died on the Launceston yacht Business Post Naiad , one by drowning, the other from a heart attack at the height of the storm. Several yachts were sent to the bottom and the biggest maritime rescue operation in Australia's history was mounted to pluck about 50 sailors from the sea. The storm highlighted some of the more foolhardy aspects of the race and led to a major review of race procedures. The ensuing enquiry made several recommendations for raising safety standards and requirements for competitors.

Despite such risks, the Sydney to Hobart is one of the great ocean races of the globe. No other annual yachting event in the world attracts such huge media coverage and popular attention.

The weather risks are not the only source of controversy. In 1990, a spokesman for the NSW Cancer Council ruffled a few cravats by claiming that the name and logo of the British yacht Rothmans breached the NSW voluntary advertising code – which stated that any vehicles propelled by petrol, diesel, gas, solar or wind power were banned from advertising cigarettes. This was in the midst of a war between tobacco companies – who were denying any adverse effects of smoking – and doctors and public health advocates, so it saw much heated debate. Gin-and-tonics were spilt at the bar.

While many of the same yachts compete around the world, and their focus is on the longer campaign to be best in Category 1, for many locals the Sydney to Hobart race is itself the point of it all. In its early years, the race was dominated by 'amateurs', many of whom were Wednesday and Saturday sailors for their local clubs. But over the years, the race has attracted the rich and famous, and many such Australians have been competitors: Alan Bond, and Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch among them. The race has also attracted well-known sailors from overseas: Ted Turner, the founder of CNN cable network in the USA, for one, while Sir Edward Heath skippered Morning Cloud to victory in 1969, a year before he became Prime Minister of Britain.

Nowadays, major corporations sponsor both yachts and the race itself. Many yachts now have names like Alfa Romeo, Nokia, Skandia, Porsche, Hugo Boss, and Credit Index Leopard , while the race itself was, in 2008, the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, after the race's organiser, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, negotiated a multi-year sponsorship deal with the prominent international company Rolex.

The 2007 winner of line honours, Wild Oats XI, is only the second boat to win in three consecutive years; the first was Morna , in 1948. There have been several repeat winners, like 1975 and 1977 line honours winner Kialoa III.

Names can linger on, even though the boat itself has changed. There have been various famous Gretel s and Helsal s: the original Helsal took line honours in 1973 and set a race record, while Helsal IV competed in 2007.

On the other hand, some boats like Ragamuffin keep starting year after year: her placings in the Sydney to Hobart include a second in 1986 and two thirds, in 1985 and 1989 respectively. Among the fleet in 1994 were two yachts that had started in the inaugural race – Archina and Winston Churchill . Among the crews that year were two yachtsmen, Peter Luke and 'Boy' Messenger, by then in their 70s, who had sailed in 1945. Probably the 'grand old man' of the race is Syd Fischer, now in his eighties, who in 2008 competed in his fortieth Sydney to Hobart race.

Sail-world.com website, 'Rolex Sydney Hobart Milstone Race, Overall Winners Announced', http://www.sail-world.com/Australia/Rolex-Sydney-Hobart-Milestone-Race,-Overall-Winners-Announced/52428, viewed 20 February 2009

Official Site of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/default.asp, viewed 20 February 2009

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia website, http://www.cyca.com.au/, viewed 20 February 2009

[1] BC Peck, Recollections of Sydney, John Mortimer, London, 1850, pp 150–1

Sydney to Hobart yacht race: Andoo Comanche takes the day one lead with SHK Scallywag losing ground

Sport Sydney to Hobart yacht race: Andoo Comanche takes the day one lead with SHK Scallywag losing ground

Race favourite SHK Scallywag is one of the three first casualties of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race after the vessel's bow sprit broke early Tuesday evening.

Skippered by David Witt, the SHK Scallywag from Hong Kong, had recently undergone modifications, added some well-known crew and appeared to be in great shape.

But without the bow sprit, continuing the race would prove impossible.

Andoo Comanche has taken the lead late on a dramatic opening day of the race, after a string of incidents including a protest and a penalty turn. 

After a slow run in the early stages down the coast, the leading chances for line honours picked up speed later in the afternoon once they headed offshore to maximise their momentum.

The forecast predicts difficult weather for the fleet on Tuesday night and into Wednesday, with storm activity, erratic winds and possible hail.

As at 7:00pm AEDT, Andoo Comanche was leading, offshore between Lake Conjola and Milton, travelling at 24.4 knots.

LawConnect trailed by 3.8 nautical miles, travelling at 24.6 knots. Wild Thing 100 was third, 16.1 nautical miles behind Andoo Comanche.

Not long after SHK Scallywag retired, Arcadia from Victoria, along with Rum Rebellion, also reported they had left the race. 

The race began in typically tense fashion on Sydney Harbour.

LawConnect got the jump at the start and was the leader at the opening mark. But soon afterwards a problem getting their sail up led them to jibe away from the lead and the spectator craft, leaving Andoo Comanche and Scallywag with the advantage.

However with all crews pushing things to the edge, a protest flag came in from Andoo Comanche, claiming Scallywag had tacked too late, forcing them to take evasive action with their sail luffing, losing momentum.

Swearing could be heard on board Andoo Comanche as they shouted out their protest after the near miss.

Scallywag sailed clear in the lead and was first out of the Heads, but facing the possibility of a time penalty at the end of the race if Andoo Comanche's protest was upheld, skipper David Witt chose to execute a double penalty turn off Bondi. Scallywag lost ground due to the move.

Six years ago, Wild Oats XI chose to race on after a protest from Comanche, and the one-hour time penalty incurred at the end of the race ended its line honours hopes.

Later in the day, Andoo Comanche retook the lead, passing LawConnect with Scallywag in third. 

The winds were not strong on the way down the coast and the race was a lot slower than last year, with the leaders reaching Wollongong after three and a half hours of racing, an hour later than last year's race.   

Look back at how the day unfolded in our blog.

• 7:45 AM 7:45 AM Tue 26 Dec 2023 at 7:45am Andoo Comanche still leads, Scallywag losing ground
• 5:38 AM 5:38 AM Tue 26 Dec 2023 at 5:38am Andoo Comanche is officially leading ... but not by much
• 5:28 AM 5:28 AM Tue 26 Dec 2023 at 5:28am Scallywag did do penalty turns

To leave a comment on the blog, please log in or sign up for an ABC account.

Live updates

That's where we will leave it.

By Andrew McGarry

Right now the race for line honours is a head-to-head duel between Andoo Comanche and LawConnect, but it would be foolish to make too many predictions about how things will go into night one and beyond.

Please keep monitoring the story above the blog, which will be updated if there are any official announcements on Scallywag.

Thank you all very much for joining me on our live coverage of the race south from Sydney.

Thanks to Bob William s on board Sylph VI for talking to us mid-race, and thanks to everyone for your comments and questions. I'm sorry we couldn't get to answer all of them.

There will be more stories covering the race tomorrow as the race heads towards Eden and Bass Strait.

For now, I'm Andrew McGarry and it has been a pleasure to bring you day one of the blue water classic.  

Has there been more than one cat in the Sydney-Hobart?

Hi Andrew, I'm afraid Oli might not be the first cat in the Sydney-Hobart yacht race. Apparently a cat was on board the yacht Connella in the second race of 1946-47. (According to the Pittsworth Sentinel - Fri 10 Jan 1947 and others - Trove). - Nick

Andoo Comanche still leads, Scallywag losing ground

Five and a half hours down, and Andoo Comanche remains in the lead, heading south at 22 knots.

Last year's winner leads by 2.5 nautical miles from LawConnect, which is going at 18.8 knots.

There is now an increasing gap with the rest of the fleet. Wild Thing 100 is now third, 15.2 nautical miles from the lead, travelling at 17.3 knots.

SHK Scallywag (7 knots) is fourth, 18.1 nautical miles from the leader, and it appears David Witt's boat may have turned north-west. We have no confirmation of anything happening on board, but it does not look like a normal course right now.

LawConnect and Celestial

What do you think the chances are of law connect winning line honours and celestial winning handicap ? - Scott

It's very hard to pin down at this early stage of the race. You can tell which boats won't be playing a part in the overall result, but it's a difficult task to isolate particular boats and say where they might finish or who is likely to win.

Celestial is currently 10th overall, going at 13.5 knots 32 nautical miles south of Botany Bay.

The issue with overall is it's not just the speed you're going at, it's the handicap you have. Celestial has a lower handicap than most of the boats ahead of her, but they're all going faster.

If it all slows down, then Celestial could well improve position and be fighting it out.

As far as LawConnect goes, it literally is a three-way battle for line honours as things stand. Christian Beck's supermaxi is 1 nautical mile behind Andoo Comanche, and 3.6 nautical miles in front of SHK Scallywag. But right now, it's the slowest of the three.

The chances are that the head of the fleet will hit some difficult conditions later tonight and tomorrow, particularly once they get to Eden and points south. How the main contenders fair then will tell us a lot about which way the race for line honours is going to go.

I could see any of the three as a possible line honours winner right now. As it stands, it could well be a showdown between Andoo Comanche and LawConnect. If the winds drop, that may allow Scallywag to come through.

Line of the race so far

Does Oli the cat being on the boat make it a catamaran?? - Louise Teague

Bravo, Louise, that's a cracker of a pun.

I hope for Oli's sake, that he has a smooth passage to Hobart on board Sylph VI, and that he's not feline too poorly by the end of the race.

I'll show myself out ...  

is it going like Clockwork out on the water?

Can you tell us anything about the only South Aussie boat in the field which is apparently named 'Clockwork' please? What are its chances of winning overall (handicap) honours? - StevoR

Apologies for the delay in getting to your comment. Clockwork is a Sydney 38 class boat in this year's race.

It's 11.8m long, and there are 10 crew on board, led by owners Andrew Lloyd and Mary Ann Harvey.

At the moment, they are going along at a bit over 6 knots, which compares favourably with a fair number of the fleet right now. They are still nine nautical miles SE of Botany Bay, which tells you how favourable (or not) conditions have been this afternoon, four and a half hours into the race.

Clockwork is 76th in the race for line honours, and 81st in the race overall.

The current prediction is that it will cross the line in the late afternoon on New Year's Eve — when you put in the corrected time to take into account it's size and other factors, the race time would have it crossing the line at 4:25am on New Year's morning.

So they're unlikely to win the race overall, but they're finish time and placing will depend a lot on what weather they face and when and whether they can avoid the worst of the conditions their competitors may have to face over the next few days.

The race is tough - and not just for those on the boats

My partner, Michael, is skippering our boat 'Merit' in the race. I didn't race as don't do well on lack of sleep, but think I won't sleep anyway as will be refreshing the tracker every 5 minutes for the next 3 days! - Jo

I understand the nerves when you're following from on-shore, but that's amazing that Michael is in the middle of it all heading for Hobart as part of the blue ocean classic.

I know that I don't need to tell you what the tracker is saying, but for the rest of our readers, Merit — a 19.3m Volvo 60 round-the-world racing yacht - is going along in the middle of the pack at present.

Like many of the boats in their area, well offshore, south of Bundeena, the winds have dropped off. Merit is going at 2.2 knots, and is a little over 25 nautical miles from the lead.

Now that the leaders have picked up the big winds, the race is quickly separating into two, with the main part of the fleet with little momentum for the moment, and some leaders flying ahead with the best of the conditions.

Good luck to Michael and the rest of the crew (not to mention the other 102 crews out on the water), and I hope it's not too nervous a wait for you Jo until Merit reaches Hobart.    

Andoo Comanche is officially leading ... but not by much

We are three and a half hours into the race, and the leaders are passing Wollongong, which tells you the pace of the race is different this year.

In the 2022 edition, the leaders were going past Port Kembla two and a half hours after the start.

However, the winds are clearly picking up and the leaders are gaining momentum as they go down the coast.

A few minutes ago, LawConnect was leading narrowly, but things have changed again.

The new leader Andoo Comanche is flying along at 25.2 knots, 0.4 nautical miles ahead of LawConnect, which is currently travelling at 18.5 knots.

Scallywag is still third, racing the furthest offshore of the leaders. It's working for them, however, as they have closed the gap to 2.9 nautical miles, and they are the fastest boat out there at 25.6 knots.

The other supermaxi on the water, Wild Thing 100, is 10.4 nautical miles back in fourth. Grant Wharington's boat is going at a respectable clip, at 20.6 knots.

Scallywag did do penalty turns

Race officials have confirmed Scallywag completed a 720-degree penalty turn off the coast of Bondi Beach, to avoid a possible time penalty at the end of the race.

Reigning line honours champion and 2023 favourite Andoo Comanche lodged an early protest, accusing Scallywag of tacking too close to her.

The boats appeared to come within metres of each other as they made their way out of Sydney Harbour.

Comanche's crew could be heard on broadcast coverage yelling "protest" to the Hong Kong-based 100-footer before formally flying a red flag.

Scallywag thrives in lighter winds such as those reported at the start of the race and, hoping to lead the fleet out of the heads, was slow to react to the protest flag.

But the fact the incident had taken place in the harbour meant Scallywag had only a limited distance in which to complete the penalty turns, or risk receiving a time sanction on arrival in Hobart.

In 2017, Wild Oats XI opted not to respond to a protest from Comanche early in the race and a subsequent one-hour time penalty cost her a line honours victory.

Update on Sylph VI and Oli the cat

As we said earlier, we are keeping an eye on the two-handed sloop Sylph VI on its way to Hobart.

The boat first competed in the race in 1961. Williams bought it 25 years ago, and he, along with first mate Chris Warren is on the way south — along with his cat, Oli.

Speaking to Williams, the 12.5m long boat is going well and has avoided trouble so far.

"We're where we expected to be — at the back of the fleet!" he said.

"It's bouncy conditions, but we've got a bit of breeze and we still have the fleet in sight."

Sylph VI was on the fourth start line, furthest back. But this meant they had less of the spectator craft to negotiate.

What of his historic fellow crew member, the first cat to sail to Hobart?

"Oli has crashed out on the starboard settee, with his head on the pillow — he looks very peaceful," Williams said.

It's going to be a long haul to Hobart, but they are going at a nice 6 or so knots at the moment, and things are good.

There will be some bad weather on the way, but they haven't hit anything so far.

"There are thunderheads around, we can see them, but nothing near us so far," Williams said. "There is potential for hail, so we'll have to keep our eye out.

"The main issue for us will be when we get further south and we get some very strong southwesterly breeze.

"We'll see how we go when we get down there."

How does Oli go in storms?

"I don't like rough weather that much either, but Oli usually finds a comfortable spot to curl up in, often down the back end of the quarterberth. "It's nice and cosy, he curls up in a ball and stays asleep for a while. Later he'll come out for a bit of food ... and a pee, maybe!"

You can follow their progress on Sylph VI (or for that matter on any of the boats in the fleet) on the race tracker .  

Seeking the breeze

Hi Andrew, With Scallywag & LawConnect heading further offshore, do you think their strategy is to pick up the Eastern Australian current or try to find a stronger breeze? What is the speed of the Eastern Australian Current in the fastest part of the current? I presume it’s position relative to the coast varies quite a bit as it makes it way down the east coast from the tropics, assuming Scallywag & LawConnect are looking for the current, how will they find the optimal part? Many thanks, Rob (Maryanne’s husband & Mandy’s Dad - so I just had to ask a question!!!) - Rob

I don't know the answer of where the strongest current is or will be. What I do know is that as of the final weather briefing this morning, the BOM were saying that this afternoon they expected light, variable winds closer to shore.

Offshore, the expectation was that winds would be E to SE 10-20 knots. The winds the supermaxis are currently experiencing are towards the lower end of that range.

My best guess is that the big four — who are all well out from shore right now — will be staying out there for the moment, in search of the strongest winds, rather than the current.

The prediction is that once the fleet gets beyond Eden, wind speeds will increase to 20 to 30 knots (albeit still E to SE winds blowing largely away from Hobart).

  Who knows who will benefit most from this. Will it be the smaller boats, or will the inevitable happen and the 100-footers pull ahead? We shall see.

First out of the Heads

Who was first out of the heads? - John

Sorry folks, for those who were keen to know who was officially first out of the Heads, it was actually Scallywag.

LawConnect was first around the first mark, but after their sail problems, they were overtaken by Scallywag, who were first to get out of the Heads.

After all the boats got hit with a wind drop, LawConnect then briefly took the lead, but again were not the first out.

It's been a crazy old start, eh?

Why do people jump off the boats?

Hi Andrew, can you please talk us through how and why the two crew from Scallywag ended up in the water? - Maryanne

Hello Maryanne,

The explanation for why the people jump off the boats is that they are not actually crew.

As part of the coverage of each year's race, camera operators and photographers usually go on board one or two of the leading contenders as they are going through the harbour and the Heads, in order to take pics / send back footage.

The issue is, of course, that unless they want to actually go to Hobart, they need to get off the boat at some point.

The only way to do that is to jump off, so that they can be picked up by waiting boats.

I haven't heard anything concerning coming out, so I presume all went smoothly, and the camerapeople and photographers are currently drying off (or filing pictures like mad, as the case may be....).

Change at the top?

This is definitely not your usual start to the Sydney to Hobart.

An hour into the race, the head of the fleet are usually heading southwards at a rate of knots — upwards of 20, in some cases — and there is definite momentum with one or other of the leaders.

Not so this year.

It's a game of cat and mouse out on the water right now.

Andoo Comanche is taking a (relatively) inside line, and has sneaked in front. The defending champion is just ahead, travelling at 11.4 knots at the minute. Between it and the coast is URM Group, the 21.8m long boat skippered by Marcus Ashley-Jones. It is going at 8.4 knots.

Further out to sea is LawConnect — it is further south than the others, but in terms of the lead it is officially 0.3 nautical miles behind Andoo Comanche, going at 9.2 knots.

Behind them is Philip Turner's Reichel Pugh 66 Alive — the boat that won overall in 2018.  

Alive (0.4 nm behind) is going at 7.4 knots on a similar line to Andoo Comanche. More smaller boats are in the mix, with Moneypenny (1.3nm back), No Limit (also 1.3nm behind) and Smuggler (1.6nm) all travelling in the middle channel.

The widest run of all is Scallywag, who is now almost out of picture on the tracker, searching for wind.

It's going to be a fascinating afternoon if the winds stay light and give the smaller boats a chance.

A question on the rules

Hey Andrew, I'm new to sailing so sorry if this is a dumb question. Who determines if Scallywag has to do the turns and how long they have to do them? - Maddy

Maddy, where things stand is that Andoo Comanche has put in a protest flag already after that close call in the harbour.

Andoo Comanche are claiming that Scallywag chose to tack too late, forcing them off course to avoid a collision.

From here it's all pending. The judges will be sitting in the protest room in Hobart, waiting for the race to finish.

While the boats are on the water, there will be no decision made. As the saying goes, it's now up to Scallywag's crew to decide if they are feeling lucky.

If they want to take the chance — and so far it looks like they do — then they will sail straight to Hobart and hope that the judges rule with them at the end.   A few years back, Wild Oats XI was issued with a one-hour penalty in Hobart for an incident near the start of the race.

If they are not so confident, then they need to do those two turns (or a 720 degree turn, for the mathematically inclined out there), before they get a certain distance down the coast. If they do that, then the protest is cleared, and it's all systems go - but Andoo Comanche and others would doubtless gain ground.

The upshot, Maddy, is that it's not hard and fast, and it depends on the final ruling. #ClearAsMud

A speed update for the leaders

The leaders are certainly not blazing a trail down south as things stand.

Scallywag leads, but the boat is travelling at 9 knots. It's nearest challenger, Andoo Comanche, is going at 9.6 knots.

LawConnect is further back and the furthest out to sea, searching for winds to fill their big sail. They are travelling at 6.9 knots.

Scallywag has clear air - will they keep it?

We are about half an hour into the race, and Scallywag still leads the fleet, with Andoo Comanche in second and LawConnect in third taking a wide line out of the Heads.

Alive is doing very well so far in about fourth spot, although they will be playing the long game to Hobart, looking more to the overall title than line honours.

Scallywag is still going straight ahead, and there is no sign of them turning to do the penalties.

They have until a little way down the coast (around Bondi) to take the turns, but if not they will have to rely on the judges seeing things their way once they get to Hobart!

Already the race record track of LDV Comanche (as it was in 2017) is beginning to stretch away from the fleet.

One day nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds is a ridiculously fast time to Hobart, and any challengers will need EVERYTHING to go right to beat it.

Frustration on board Andoo Comanche

Sailing Master Iain Murray is speaking to Olympian Lisa Darmanin on Seven, and he's not happy.

Asked about the incident with Scallywag, Murray said:

"It's a classic port-and-starboard (incident). That's too close (from Scallywag).

"You can't do that with 100-footers. We'll see".

Asked about the speed of the boat, Murray said:

"We're really struggling to get up to speed in this wind."

A reminder of how to watch

In case you are trying to watch the action, a reminder to check out 7Mate on free-to-air or 7Plus if you want to stream it.

There's a LOT going on

Everyone is having issues with their sails. The conditions are not clear, and now Andoo Comanche is taking its time to change sails.

Behind them is LawConnect, but they have their sail fixed finally, and while Andoo Comanche is going up and down.

Now LawConnect has passed last year's winners — and there is some colourful language coming from the deck of Andoo Comanche!

Meanwhile Scallywag has taken advantage of their rivals problems, and they have sailed clear in first place!