We're 48 hours into the legendary Sydney-Hobart Race. So far, it's been
hard, but it's eased up recently and turned into some very pleasant
sailing. Also helps that as of the latest report, we're in fifth among the
Clipper fleet with a good position to improve things (though, to be fair,
we have thought the same thing in the past).
All the reports leading up to the start of the race talked about it being
the worst weather since the disastrous 1998 race where six (I think) died,
though one not particularly reassuring newscaster did say it was "unlikely"
to be as bad as that. Someone from Wild Oats (one of the super-maxi yachts,
and a favourite to win the race) was talking about postponing. Two things
going for us though. However, we're an ocean racing fleet. Sir Robin
(legendary sailor and founder of Clipper) pointed out that we'd already
been through worse than what was forecast, and he planned to give the
owner of Wild Oats a hard time over this. Also, fortunately, the forecast
moderated closer to the start. Still, I remember seeing the crawl on a
newscast Christmas Day saying "Skippers in Sydney Hobart Race just hoping
to survive first night without any major dramas." Spoiler alert: I'd say we
accomplished that.
The start was unbelievable. 106 boats (I think) jockeying for position.
Spectator boars and committee boats adding to the chaos in the harbor. We
had a number of close encounters on the way to the line, many with other
Clipper boats but also with Brindabella, winner of the race about twenty
years ago and still a top-fifteen entry and notable because I met one of
the crew a few days earlier and got shown around. (More on that in my
Sydney post, which I aim to write up in port.) I say "close encounters"
rather than "close calls" because every boat seemed totally in control,
just very, very crowded. These generally involved a friendly wave and yell
of "Good luck". It was hard to tell when we actually crossed the line, but
pretty soon we were tacking toward the Heads, rounding them, and putting up
the kite, all solidly in the middle of the Clipper pack.
As the evening went on, boats spread out a bit, but we kept in touch with a
number of other Clippers for a long time. Eventually, several of them gybed
inshore while we held a more offshore route, expecting better wind there,
supported by the fact the super-maxis and Sir Robin were headed that way as
well.
Around 9, it came time to drop the kite and the wind began to turn on us.
This is where it started to get really hard. Big seas and big winds (we're
not supposed to transmit weather details, but that should be suitably
vague) made for really tough sailing. Several people were out of action,
sick. I wasn't 100% myself and couldn't manage breakfast on the second
morning. Mid-day on day 2, we heard that fifteen boats had retired and
there had been one EPIRB (probably an abandoned boat). Relative to that, we
were in great shape. Relative to any normal standard of comfort, we
weren't. It wasn't too cold, but it was really wet on deck, extremely tough
in the bow but also constantly spraying (or more) into the cockpit. At one
point, we tried to set up for tack, and I must have spent a solid ten
minutes up near the shrouds, trying to rerun a Yankee sheet while
constantly being covered in water. When we tried to sleep, the boat was
constantly crashing through waves. This was also my first significant
attempt to sleep on the high side of the boat, so I was constantly worrying
about falling out. It got slightly better when I actually tried to get out
of bed and found I could barely get between the edge and the ceiling, I had
it cranked up so high. For a while, we sailed without a main. The other
watch had brought it down to fix a batten (fiberglass rods that help
maintain the sail shape) and found we were making better speed without it,
we were so overpowered otherwise.
On the positive side, I did helm for a couple of hours, and I continued to
develop a feel for it. Lots of things to keep track of, lots of things
trying to push you around, but you slowly start to feel natural with it.
You can feel the angle of the wind changing and adjust. You can see the
waves coming and anticipate them with the helm, steering up the face, then
down the back... until one does something unexpected, you have a major
slam, and you have to fight to both hold the wheel and keep your feet.
Great to be able to say I've helmed in the Sydney-Hobart. I'm also
continuing to be more useful in sail changes, reefing, and all the other
stuff that goes into sailing the boat, though the more experienced guys are
still miles ahead of me when things don't go to plan.
For example, today, we had the Yankee 3 in its bag, sitting on the high
side of the boat, just drying out before we put it back down in the locker.
We then tacked, putting it on the low side. Not ideal, but we were sorting
out a few things before putting it away, and it was tied to the rail.
Except the front end wasn't, and when a wave washed over the low side, the
end of the bag dropped in the water. We were now dragging along a very
heave end of a sail at about 10 knots. It was a struggle to get it back in,
and while I was second to it, I didn't really know what to do. Han and
Justin followed and sorted it out well, bringing in some free halyards and
winches to help pull it out of the water and back on board. Lesson learned.
Things have mellowed a lot today, and we seem to actually have some
pleasant sailing weather while also making pretty good time toward Hobart.
We're going to have to stay focused to get the most out of what are likely
to be lighter winds, but life on the boat has gotten a lot easier and
people are motivated by our position and what is looking like a tight race.
*********************************
Two final points. First, I don't know if I'll ever get a "Day 1" blog out.
Maybe not even a "Day 2". The first few days are just really hard with an
early start, lots of action, adjustment to broken sleep, and adjustment to
being on the boat. So, Mom (and others), don't worry. Second, I still
plan to post some pictures from Race 4 as well as something on Sydney,
probably while in Hobart. But a quick summary of Syndey, great time, very
busy with boat stuff, very nice to catch up with as many people as I did
but not nearly enough time to do as much as I would have liked.
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