News Around the World During the Christmas races a code zero never emerged, not even
for a trial run as the boats drifted about waiting for wind. The big sails did start to appear during testing after the series concluded, so they cannot be ruled out entirely. But it will take a high-certainty forecast for a very light day before anyone is likely to risk it. In terms of sailplans, the most noticeable differences are between
the Doyle-designed package aboard American Magic compared with the North inventories on the other three teams. The American emphasis appeared to be drag reduction with small, low-aspect headsails and narrower-girth mainsails. The trade-off may require having to sail slightly hotter angles downwind, while the boats with bigger sailplans could drive down deeper. After the initial racing Magic also started trialling an interesting windsurfer-style ‘bat-wing’ main with scalloped leach. The other curiosity in early races was that Luna Rossa sometimes
It doesn’t really change anything. You still have to put your best foot forward and perform on the day. Only one team gets to win the America’s Cup. And that is what we are trying to do...’ Ivor Wilkins
AUSTRALIA Resilience Six days before the planned start of the 76th Rolex Sydney Hobart Race the Cruising Yacht Club cancelled the race – its hand forced by events. A virus cluster had flared up on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, home to many skippers and crews of the 89 yachts that were due to head south on Boxing Day. CYCA Commodore Noel Cornish said, ‘We are bitterly disap-
pointed, especially considering the plans and preparations we had put in place for a Covid-safe race. We were so well prepared and we’re only six days from the start. This is the first time in 76 years that the race will not be conducted, but it is now impracticable for the CYCA to conduct the race under prevailing restrictions.’ Speaking to the sailors after the announcement, there was a
clear understanding of the complex issues involved, and an appre- ciation of the work Noel Cornish and his team at the CYC had done to try to make this happen, even considering alternative races. Chris ‘Nicho’ Nicholson from InfoTrack summed it up: ‘Obviously
we are disappointed but we are all grateful to the CYC for trying so hard. To create a plan and try to carry it out deserves a huge amount of credit. Our own attitude was always this race is on until it’s off.’ With that mentality crews throughout the fleet had been preparing
to head south – the 18 double-handed entries, all the way through to the 60, 70 and 100-footers –and so there were plenty of positives coming out of that preparation. In early December I was out training with the crew onboard Peter Harburg’s 100ft Black Jack and, after a significant break in competitive sailing, it was great to get out on the water again… especially with outstanding sailors like Mark Brad- ford, Anthony Nossiter, Will McCarthy, Alex Nolan and Ryan Godfrey – deeply experienced guys who you want around you when you are in the middle of Bass Strait at 3am and things start getting fruity. Tom Slingsby was also onboard, an extraordinarily talented sailor and a very decent bloke to boot. In the final preparation for the Hobart Race we had the Big Boat
The soft side of the Cup family… as soon as it became clear that Patriot had not just capsized but was sinking, support boats, shore crew and rival sailors poured onto the water to help. Pete Burling, seen here, has just climbed off Patriot after spending some time with his head in the water trying to clear tangled lines
sails without backstays and consequently less forestay tension. However, this technique only seems likely to be seen in light air when power to foil is more important than height. Different sailing styles were also evident elsewhere. Dean Barker
cuts a Roger Federer dash – elegant smooth strokes, textbook covering tactics – to Jimmy Spithill’s Rafael Nadal, all explosive aggression and edgy 270° handbrake turns at the leeward mark, unkindly labelled ‘Eagle JKs’ (a pop at John Kostecki’s sackable speed-killing leeward mark calamity in 2013 – ed). Burling, meanwhile, represents the new generation coming out
of apparent-wind skiff sailing, less concerned with the chess-like formalities of match racing, eyes forward seeking the fast lanes in a constant calculus of speed and angle to the next mark. Brief as the pre-Christmas racing was, it set the stage and whetted
appetites for an engrossing summer of high stakes, high-tech com- petition for sailing’s most glittering prize. Apart from bragging rights, the result carried no meaning, but ETNZ’s victory reinforced the challengers’ determination to curse the defender as the favourite. If they thought the burden would unsettle Burling, they seemed
mistaken. ‘There is nothing wrong with being a favourite,’ he shrugs. ‘At the end of the day you have to go out there and win this thing. We have been to a lot of 49er events where we have been favourites.
30 SEAHORSE
Day on Sydney Harbour, where I was fortunate to join Chris Nicholson and crew on InfoTrack, winning that event, this time with the highly experienced Tony Mutter driving. Again solid, calm and reliable people – and these are traits I have been recognising and paying particularly attention to this year. Twelve months ago we had to evacuate our home as a wall of
fire roared towards us, torching hundreds of square kilometres of New South Wales in its path, and generating so much heat that trees were exploding. If you want to feel insignificant, stand near a forest fire and listen to what your senses are telling you. As I was viewing it my brain, fumbling to comprehend the enormity
of what was happening, reminded me of a time racing in the Southern Ocean, when we were punching into a steady 40-50kt south of Cape Horn and suddenly the breeze lifted to 75kt, with a force that pressed the goggles tight on my face and shrink-wrapped the drysuit hard on my skin. Nature in full voice doing its thing, slowing time down to the absolute here and now, where the shriek of the wind was silenced by the noise of the blood pounding in my ears. It must have been the base roar of that terrifying wind that linked
these two events in my mind. When anything like this is happening, whatever your emotional state is, you have to focus and listen very carefully, and then act on the advice the experts are giving you. Try it. Try walking around your home and picking out the things dear to you that will fit into your car. Then be ready to leave in an hour, to drive away as fast as you can and not look back. Last week I drove south, back down through the path of the fires.
Much of it looking like Mordor, through acres and acres of blackened poles. Astonishingly, after recent rains, many of these were fes- tooned with fresh green shoots punching out of the charred bark. Arriving near the coast, I had lunch with a guy who lost it all,
GILES MARTIN-RAGET
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