By Ian Grant.
All ocean racing sailors who have contested the Rolex Sydney to Hobart race including Mooloolaba Yacht Club Commodore Bob Robertson have experienced the mental and physical torment in what is described as the World’s toughest ocean race to win.
Bob Robertson who successfully raced Queensland Maid on the Australian east coast circuit a decade ago has the career distinction of finishing third overall in the International Blue Water classic.
He has experienced the highs and lows of slogging against the ferocious southerly squalls which frequently turn racing on the Tasman Sea into supreme test of heavy wind racing under storm sails.
Early weather predictions indicate the fleet particularly the smaller and slower yachts will face the full blast from a unfavourable South Wester for their open water slog after they weather Green Cape to enter Bass Strait.
However the crews have accepted the challenge to face the unpredictable weather system and the associated personal torture of sustaining their energy on ‘hard tack’ meals and limited sleep while being constantly lashed with cold wind driven spray.
As these conditions reveal racing over each of the soul searching 628 nautical miles towards a calm mooring in Hobart’s historical Constitution Dock is not a place for the feint hearted it has a well documented history of taking both the veterans and the rookies away from their comfort zones and this year’s classic promises to be no different.
Special interest will focus on the maxi challenge for line honours with an expected match race between two of the World’s best crews manning the decks of Bob Oatley’s Hamilton Island Yacht Club registered defending champion Wild Oats XI and the equally impressive New Zealand challenger Alfa Romeo owned and skippered by Neville Crichton.
The last time they met in 2005 the brand new Wild Oats XI scooped the pool breaking the record and winning on corrected handicap with her sensationally fast 1 day 18 hour 40 minute 10 second course time set with an average speed of 14.7 knots.
Both big boats had almost shared the same sea space before Alfa Romeo elected to tack away in a bid to become the pacemaker but that decision proved to be the difference with Wild Oats XI eventually claiming the triple-crown (line honours, race record and fastest corrected handicap) with her 1 hour 16 minute and 21 second victory.
Her principal skipper Mark Richards has since steered Wild Oats XI to impressive line honours victories with average speeds of 11 knots in 2006, 13.8knots in 2007 and 14.1 knots in 2008.
But realistically Neville Crichton and his Alfa Romeo racing team are returning to ‘mend wounded pride’ and providing they don’t make the same tactical mistake they represent a real threat to change the post race party celebrations for Wild Oats XI crew.
Personally the choice between the two yachts designed in California by John Reichel and Jim Pugh and built in Sydney by John McConaghy remain deadlocked and will be decided by the crew who has the sustained endurance to finish on top of the tense second to second match race over every centimetre of the 628 n/ml race.