The 105 crews are preparing to write a new chapter of the historic southern sailing competition: the spectacle is guaranteed
The start of the Sydney-Hobart – which for some years has been technically called the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race for sponsor reasons – is one of the symbols of offshore sailing and the southern summer. It invariably starts at 1pm on 26 December – Boxing Day in Anglo-Saxon countries – with the fleet, this year of 105 boats leaving Sydney Bay: 99% full, with beautiful sunshine and light winds, followed by thousands of curious people on land having a picnic, dozens of boats around. Sometimes, the race to Hobart – the capital of Tasmania – is a 628 mile sail that is not particularly demanding, in theory it is a navigation from North to South over a distance that in the Mediterranean is comparable to the route between Venice and Messina. But at times the strong wind from the south transformed the race into a long and exhausting beat against a rough sea and at times the wind from the north made it a mad sprint, almost always gliding over the waves. And then there is the legendary passage of the Bass Strait, where the race is often decided shortly before arriving in Tasmania: just last year, a calm situation allowed a sensational recovery for LawConnect, Christian Beck’s 100-footer, which burned John Winning’s Andoo Comanche just 51 seconds across the finish line, in the River Derwent, Hobart. But more easily, the Bass Strait – due to the combination of intense wind and strong currents, can become extreme and put crews in difficulty.
disaster
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This is how it went in 1998, in the ‘cursed’ edition of the regatta which, without taking on the contours of the total disaster of the Fastnet Race in 1979 (with 19 deaths), was a terrible tragedy. A devastating storm caused six deaths, with five boats sunk, seven abandoned and 55 sailors recovered in what was the largest operation ever carried out in Australia in peacetime, with 35 aircraft and 27 naval units involved. The fleet sailed along New South Wales, driven by a fresh wind of between 25 and 35 knots, but as soon as it entered the Bass Strait, problems began due to a strong depression, which had developed anomalously south-west of Australia. Wind Force 12, 65 knots with gusts of 80, worsened by the strong current of the strait, contrary to the direction of the wind, which raised very steep waves and breakers. The investigation established that the race management and weather office had not adequately anticipated and communicated the potential danger. The story, which inspired a film and a book, changed the approach to safety not only in the Antipodean classic, but in all offshore regattas. Since then it has been required in all the most demanding races that the sailors, or at least a percentage of the crew (variable from race to race), have attended a certified sea survival course.
the boat under the rocks of Tasmania
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At the Sydney-Hobart, races are held both in real time (to achieve what the English call Line Honor and which remains engraved in the roll of honour) and in compensated time, which allows relatively small boats to win the race. In 2023, for example, it was Alive – a 66 footer, therefore 20 meters long – who took home the prestigious Tattersall Cup despite having arrived 7 hours astern of Law Connect which measures over 30 meters in length. And it must be said that even in the edition at the start the fight to win the plywood trophy will be much more fierce because in real time it is almost impossible not to win one of the three 100-footers: the aforementioned Law Connect and Masterlock Comanche, protagonists of the duel of 2023 plus Wild Thing who came sixth last year, disappointing expectations. The weather forecast does not seem to suggest the possibility of breaking the regatta record in the 79th edition: it belongs to the 100 foot LDV Comanche which triumphed in 2017 taking 33 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds, at an average of almost 19 knots which for a monohull of the classic ones (i.e. without foil) is incredible. But at the Bluewater Classic – as sailors from the Antipodes call it, thinking of the fact that it was invented in 1945 by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia – surprises are lurking. Maybe still in Bass Strait
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