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Inside Sailing: 10th Episode 2012

Published on Dec 27, 2012
Inside Sailing takes you on a tour around the globe for some of the world's greatest sailing locations, while it lets you in on the secrets of the sport. You will learn what it takes to be a champion in many disciplines, from windsurfing to yachting!

Rolex Sydney To Hobart : Carlodownunder

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Rolex Sydney To Hobart : Flying South Photos Carlo Borlenghi

Rolex Sydney To Hobart  : Flying South Photos Carlo Borlenghi

 The 68th Rolex Sydney Hobart got underway in exceptional conditions. The forecast southerly breeze providing the perfect angle for a spinnaker start and run down the harbour. The angle would prove less kind as the yachts exited the Sydney Heads and made their turn towards Hobart, finding the 20 – 25 knots now firmly on the nose. Mark Richards and Wild Oats XI looked to be in no mood to be interrupted in her bid to claim a sixth line honours, blasting off the line and showing Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin Loyal a clean pair of heels before popping out of the Heads comfortably in the lead.

An interesting night lies ahead. The decision how far to head out to sea was the first conundrum facing the crews. So far the bulk of yachts appear firm in the belief that staying inshore, and inside the rhumb line will pay better. Only, one or two boats have shown a determination to head offshore for any length of time.

 Mike Broughton, navigator on Chris Bull’s Jazz, felt ahead of the start that the fleet would do well to stay inshore for the initial section of the race, certainly until the major swing in wind direction expected during the night. This transition should see the wind back to the northeast and will have the yachts running under spinnaker for an extended period.

Earlier this morning, Gordon Maguire, tactician on Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki, indicated some of their pre-race routing suggested the bigger yachts could profit enormously from the predicted northeasterly. If it arrives on cue, they could bite a huge chunk out of the course during the hours of darkness and be lying off Green Cape by mid-morning on the second day, 27 December. The small boats, meanwhile, such as race veteran Roger Hickman’s Wild Rose, might only find themselves parallel with Jervis Bay as dawn breaks. The difference in power between segments of the fleet will be all too apparent at this juncture.

At 17:30 AEDT Wild Oats XI was 8 nautical miles north east of Kiama travelling at 12 knots, with some 50 nm under her belt after 4.5 hours of sailing. Any thought of setting a new record seemed to be on hold as navigator Adrienne Cahalan called in to report the wind speed dropping as evening arrives. Ragamuffin Loyal lies within striking distance just astern. Lahana, Ichi Ban and Black Jack round out the top five on the water. Conditions have been wet and hard on crews during these first few hours and the measure of performance differential between front-runners and back markers is clearly demonstrated by Charlie’s Dream. Averaging just 3.4 knots, Peter Lewis and crew were parallel with Botany Bay having knocked a mere 13 nm off the 628nm course distance.

 The start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart is like few other yacht races. The natural amphitheatre formed by the deep-water harbour offers great viewing potential from the water, at water level from the beaches and coves, and grandstand opportunities from higher ground. Every Sydney-sider has a favourite location, and South Head must be one of the most popular and dramatic. A huge crowd always assembles to watch the fleet barrel down the harbour and make the sharp out into open water.


This year’s spectacle was worth the effort involved. After a dreadful Christmas Day, when rain and wind battered Sydney, Boxing Day has been a joy. Blue sky and reasonably warm temperatures brought the locals out in their thousands to cheer the determined and enthusiastic crews off on their compelling adventure. How to Follow the Event


 Further information on the Rolex Sydney Hobart may be found at www.rolexsydneyhobart.com

Rolex Sydney Hobart News : Questions Loom NOR

Wild Thing skipper Grant Wharington lashes out over Sydney-Hobart race ban

@carloborlenghi

D. D. MCNICOLL 

From:The Australian 

December 26, 2012 10:48AM

 A DEVASTATED Grant Wharington has lashed out at a Rolex Sydney-Hobart ''conspiracy'', after Wild Thing was banned from the annual blue-water classic.

+Daniel Forster 

+Daniel Forster 

His lips trembling and close to tears, Wharington, the Wild Thing skipper, said he was "absolutely devastated" to be told his super maxi yacht had been banned from this year's race.

+Daniel Forster 

Wharington said he had been further insulted by an offer to sail down the 628 nautical mile course with the other yachts but not be part of the race.

Wharington said he believed he had been targeted by "a conspiracy" and suggested some officials at the Cruising Yacht Cub of Australia were biased against super maxi boats.

"We provided the documentation and we were told on Wednesday we could go and now it is withdrawn," Wharington said after a 30-minute meeting with the CYCA race committee during which he pleaded his case.

@carloborlenghi

He and his crew headed back to the boat after leaving the CYCA where the plans to "demolish a few cases of beer."

CYCA Commodore Howard Piggott said Wharington had failed to file declarations from the designer and builder of Wild Thing that the yacht complied to ABS standards for racing boats.

Doubts had been cast over Wild Thing since race director Tim Cox told the Christmas Eve skipper's briefing that the yacht still owed him "heaps" of paperwork.

Yachts have to lodge documents covering their construction, any modifications, their international ratings certificate and compulsory safety checks before be given permission to start in the 628 nautical mile race.

Wharington was at the CYCA sailing office this morning to sign documents and he left the club to board his boat believing he had been cleared to start.

However Piggott said there was no way Wild Thing would be allowed to start and patrol boats on the harbour would be ordered to keep the yacht out of the race area.

Rolex Sydney To Hobart : Race Facts

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Americas Cup Technolige used on wild oats : Wild Oats ready for Sydney-Hobart

Wild Oats ready for Sydney-Hobart

• Amanda Lulham 
• The Daily Telegraph 
• December 18, 2012 8:45AM

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IT was one of the most scrutinised keel unveilings since Alan Bond and Ben Lexen revealed Australia II's wings in 1983. With cameras flashing and TV crews recording the champion ocean marauder Wild Oats was hauled out of the water yesterday, exposing a bottom with some unusual bumps and lumps
and keel bits which have borrowed from America's Cup technology.
 

It was the first time the modifications, to make the multi-million dollar 100-footer faster than ever before in this year's Rolex Sydney to Hobart, have been publicly viewed and came just over a week before Wild Oats begins her quest for a record sixth line honours win in the bluewater classic. Last year the supermaxi's light wind performance was exposed as an Achilles Heel for the yacht with off-season alterations addressing the problem.

Skipper Mark Richards believes the addition of a retractable bow centreboard and keel winglets with a lineage which can be traced back to Australia II's winged keel technology could make the difference between a win and a loss in this years race to Hobart.

Both new additions will reduce drag and thus increase the speed of the yacht which last year lost the line honours race by just over three minutes.

Wild Oats needs just one second per nautical mile improvement in speed to finish 11 minutes faster than her 2011 time in the 628 nautical mile race.

And co-owner Sandy Oatley believes her off-season improvements will give her the additional speed required to race back into the winners circle this year.

"Any time there is new technology you look at it,'' Oatley said of Wild Oats constant makeovers.

"These changes will make her faster than she was.''

Now seven years old, Wild Oats has stayed ahead of the pack with attention to detail and her state-of-the-art technology reasons for her success.

"The hydraulic ram on the keel can lift a jumbo,'' Oatley said.

"She is X-rayed and checked, all the bearings are looked at. There is a lot of attention to detail.''

The latest modifications have been recently tested with great success with Wild Oats thumping the opposition by almost 10 minutes in the recent SOLAS Big Boat Challenge on Sydney Harbour and also setting a new race record in the recent Cabbage Tree Island race, a major lead-up event to the Sydney to Hobart.

The results have seen Wild Oats XI installed as the pre-race favourite for the race to Tasmania ahead of fellow 100-footers Ragamuffin Loyal and Wild Thing and the 98-footer Lahana.

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