Sydney Hobart – How do you say it?
by John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World AUS 28 Dec 2022 00:09 PST
Celestial owner/skipper Sam Haynes after arriving in Hobart - 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race © Salty Dingo
But it's not a matter of not knowing the correct pronunciation, or being in another language...
It’s actually about two great sailors and their crews.
Sam Haynes; after 2021 where you sailed the antifoul off the boat, “Yes. You deserve this one! Twice, and in a row, is no fluke. There’ll be a book in a library not too far away, and it is simply called, Sailing mastered. It will be easy to find. Your face will be on it.”
Bruce Taylor, who was in second place for so much of it, and in the hunt for even longer. “I don’t know. Where do you go? You have campaigned, and campaigned, for so long now. So many times a Divisional Winner, and a Bridesmaid too. So maybe it’s, ‘Thank you for everything!’ I just do not know... It’s all I’ve got. Catch you, mate. Your book is named, Seamanship personified! Still in hardback, the ninth edition is out now at your favourite bookstore for all who have been inspired to take it on.”
Chutzpah (HhootsPah with a heavy roll in the back of the throat) may be more challenging to pronounce than your alternate name, Brouhaha, but the fact that Chutzpah is not entirely translatable from the Yiddish is no problem. The bit about standing up to be visible has come though five by five, every time. Cheers to you.
Mathematically there are others now in the fray, but when it is 56nm in under an hour at the time of writing (Alegria), and we are not talking about being dropped in by Chinook, then it is just wallpaper on a website. 154nm in nine hours from a Sun Fast 3300 with Lee Condell and Lincoln Dews on board stacks up, if screaming along under A-bag, but the journey from St Helens to Hobart is arguably the hardest part of the lot, and it will be dark.
I have to take this opportunity to say I am sorry not to have written more about the Two-Handers along the way. So name dropping Hip-Nautic, Mistral, Transcendence Crento, Pacman, Ocean Crusaders, and Mister Lucky is only a little above a socialite at a party, or an up and coming celeb on a chat show, but I will take what I can at this point.
No. There is no discussion of giving up at this time. Some have until the end of the Dog Watch to get in, others by the time the second coffee is due after sunrise. Anything can happen. Just look at last night’s breeze from heaven to bring the leaders in, when there had been nothing before it for hours upon hours. Never forget there are divisional wins and places at stake too!
Back in the Bronze Age, circa 1995, we had a similar greeting, and I remember pondering why so many had argued so profusely about how hard it was to get up the fabled River Derwent after a 600nm slog. Thank God it was only pondered in my mind back then.
At any point, being tied to the quay is always a better place to be when the number crunchers are out and the ratings are being calculated. Tick, Tock. Tick. Tock!
Housekeeping
White Noise (a M.A.T 1245 from Victoria) has retired - safety line failure. All ok, and heading to Launceston. It brings retirements to eight in total.
Tas Police vessel on way to Huntress, then Sail Exchange to offer assistance. The two vessels retired earlier today.
Additional information provided at 1803hrs AEDT said, “The crew of Huntress, which lost its rudder earlier today, have chosen to make a controlled transfer at sea to a police launch, which was standing by. The crew are being transported to Lady Barron on Flinders Island, north of Tasmania. All crew are safe, albeit experiencing seasickness.”
We have asked, but are not able to provide information at this time as to whether Huntress is now under tow, or currently a hazard to navigation awaiting salvage. The crew was transferred at approximately 1700hrs AEDT.
URM Group set a new race record for a conventionally ballasted yacht, in a time of 1 day, 19 hours, 6 minutes and 48 seconds. The previous record was held by Matt Allen’s Botin 52, Ichi Ban, set in 2017 of 1 day, 19 hours, 10 minutes and 20 seconds.
My. My. Was a time when you wondered if anyone was ever going to smash George Snow’s record with the maxi, Brindabella…
Stay safe, thanks for tuning into Sail-World.com, and all the best for 2023.