Update
were still racing. Thanks for coming, fellas… but you don’t count. And this: after years of disquiet about the influence of profes-
sionalism in offshore racing the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia recently instituted a Corinthian division for the Hobart race. Under the international competitor classifications the crew of yachts in this division must be racing only as a pastime, not be paid in con- nection with racing, and have work that ‘does not require knowledge or skill capable of contributing to the performance of a boat’. In other words, true amateurs. How many entrants in the 2018 Hobart qualified for the Corinthian
Division? Just 20 – less than a quarter of the fleet. A revealing figure. My contention is that by pandering to the supermaxis the race
is compromising its own future. Indeed, there is a credible case that the 14-year dominance of the 100-footers in Australian offshore racing has had a negative impact on the sport here. During the 1970s and 80s Sydney Hobart fleets well in excess
of 100 boats were the norm. In non-Volvo and non-Clipper years the CYCA now struggles to attract more than 80. There may well be a big fleet for this year’s 75th anniversary Sydney Hobart Race but it will come nowhere near the 371 boats (sic) that started in the 50th race in 1994. Supporters of the supermaxis argue they attract huge publicity and
must therefore be a positive force. Where else, they ask, do 200,000 people line the foreshore to watch the start of an offshore race? Quite so, but nowhere else in the world does a major yacht race
start in the heart of a five million-strong city, on a public holiday, at the height of summer and where access to the scores of spec- tacular-viewing headlands is completely free. Boxing Day is primarily a picnic day in Sydney to bask in the sun, drink beer or white wine and watch the boats go by. It is, of course, wonderful to have them there, but most spectators wouldn’t know the difference between Scallywag and a Mirror dinghy. In any case, offshore racing is a sport for participants, not spectators. It has few real ‘fans’ because it is distant, confusing
and very difficult to cover in a way that makes it genuinely sensible for the non-sailor. That’s why the big-money sponsors give so much promotional attention to the line-honours contest. First-past-the- post is easy to understand; handicaps are a mystery. In my view this skewed concentration on just the four or five
largest yachts devalues the spirit of the Sydney Hobart – as a fair contest between all-comers to find the handicap winner. Worse, it causes many owners of conventional smaller yachts to lose heart and give up on the sport altogether. So how could we re-cast the fleet in a way that offers some reme-
dies to these concerns and attracts more owners to the sport? The threshold issue is cost. Meeting the entry requirements, Cat
1 special regulations and additional equipment standards demanded by the race organisers has become witheringly expensive. That may not be a problem for the millionaires who campaign Wild Oats and Comanche, but the financial hurdles have become too high for many ordinary owners. By the time they obtain quotes for extra insurance and the liferaft there’s no money left for a new jib. The chequebook closes and the boat stays on the mooring on Boxing Day. Some have argued that the solution is to reduce the maximum
allowable length and simply eliminate the supermaxis. An 80ft limit has been suggested. But sheer size alone is not a reliable measure. Big boats can be slow (Drumfire, Kialoa II) and smaller boats remark- ably quick (Ichi Ban, Patrice). To my mind the fairer way to restore a level playing field to offshore racing generally and encourage more entrants to the major events would be to exclude any yacht that employs stored power. Very few among the general public have the faintest clue that
the supermaxis must keep their engines running all the way to Hobart to provide the power for their electrical and hydraulic systems. They would be surprised to learn that offshore racing has become a man vs machine contest. Stored power is not just a response to the huge rig loads handled by maxis – it provides a significant advantage over conventional yachts and adds a performance dimen- sion that few believe can be adequately reflected in handicapping. Let’s take just one example. To gybe a conventional spinnaker
in any sort of breeze at sea is a demanding manoeuvre. The process requires a substantial amount of skill and strength from the crew. At a minimum they will need one person on the bow, another at the mast to dip the pole and a pair in the cockpit to handle the sheets and braces that control the sail. These two are often backed up by another tailer on each side. The driver must nurse the boat through the gybe with precision, turning the boat beneath the spinnaker at the right speed without collapsing the sail. Now watch a supermaxi perform the same manoeuvre. ‘Furl!’
comes the command from the helmsman (probably via the crew headsets). Someone hits a button on a powered winch that rolls up the huge spinnaker in a few seconds. The boat turns through the wind. ‘Deploy!’ and the new sheet is taken up on the other side – also on a powered winch – as the sail unfurls at extraordinary speed. Job done. Minimal risk, minimal effort. There are other advantages enjoyed by the ‘motor-sailers’ that
cannot be balanced effectively through handicapping. Engines never flag from exhaustion, get seasick, injured or need sleep. They can run at peak efficiency 24 hours a day. The use of limitless power- on-demand means that supermaxi crews don’t get as tired as their comrades on human-powered yachts. They need to perform at their peak over far shorter periods. So they will make fewer mistakes. Next, canting keels and/or moveable water ballast – made
A less obvious benefit of opting for a scow (above) rather than a conventional Mini 6.50 Proto (top) is all the extra volume down below… further helped by the Series Minis having to use a fixed keel and so dispense with the wet box and associated tackles of a canting-keel system. Some Protos also jam in a telescoping fin mechanism to maintain maximum draft when the keel is canted
16 SEAHORSE
possible by that ever-running engine – mean the supermaxis can carry proportionately more sail area at any given wind speed than fixed-keel yachts and while dragging less bulb mass. Again those are huge advantages. And a supercharged 100-footer will obviously cover the course very quickly. Consequently, they have the significant weight-saving benefit of needing to take proportionately less food and water than their slower, smaller competitors. The combined effect of all these advantages is extraordinary
performance. After a few hours the sheer speed of the maxis means that the middle-of-the-fleet boats will often be racing in completely different conditions. Handicapping, which is predominantly based
CHRISTOPHE BRESCHI
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