News Around the World
Two-boat Imoca campaigns here we go… If you are hoping to buy Jérémie Beyou’s current VPLP-designed Charal once his new Manuard design hits the water you will be disappointed. Beyou has no plans to move on his 2020 Vendée Globe racer until much closer to the start of the 2024 Vendée Globe – if indeed he even does then. Arkéa and LinkedOut both plan to keep their current Imocas sailing after launching new boats and 11th Hour entered both their 2019 VPLP and their 2021 Verdier Imocas in the last TJV
For the big boats it was tight at the pin end, Scallywag, Peter
Harburg’s Black Jack and Christian Beck’s LawConnect all staying on the western side of the line, powered up for the sprint to the first turning mark. Scallywagwith David Witt on the helm of his 25th Hobart chose to slot in a reef prior to the start and it didn’t do them any harm at all, leading the fleet out of the harbour to the seaward mark ahead of LawConnect and Black Jack, who after a stalled engine (sic!) struggled with their Code Zero furl, frustratingly having to continue onwards towards Manly to sort out the problem. Headsail frustrations of a different sort were soon to hit the race
leader, with Scallywag suffering a J2 tack fitting failure, which saw them peel away northwards to drop that, then fly their orange storm jib to punch south again, which put LawConnect out in front. Among modifications made to this powerful boat for this race
was a longer bowsprit which, says sailing master Chris Nicholson, was fitted to help with the transitions when lighter conditions roll through. His only real concern was in hard upwind sailing into a swell, with the risk of punching into a wave and folding the sprit down in half… something he remembered all too well from his days in the 18ft skiffs. With the 9m army training boat Gun Runner the final boat to clear
the heads, the fleet headed south and tried to get in sync with con- ditions that featured a southerly current butting into a building breeze. Renowned navigator Adrienne Cahalan onboard the Hoek 78 Drumfire for her own 29th Hobart Race later messaged, ‘That first night was fairly furious. A lot of boats had to take stock of the situation, pro- tecting everything onboard. We have 16 crew and I can’t imagine how tough it would be on the two-handers.’ On that first night 24 boats retired, but on the Botín 80 Stefan
Racing skippered by Grant Warrington they were doing all they could to hang onto the coat-tails of the 100-footers, with co-owner Paul Heyes reporting their second night was also tough: ‘With 33kt over the deck the rain on the face really hurt! We were doing 12kt under storm sail and two reefs. On the 28th it was completely different: blue sky, masthead Zero J6 and full main, with the breeze clocking round and flat seas.’
30 SEAHORSE At 9am on 28 December Black Jack led a fleet now down to 52
boats. Retirements included the 2018 Tattersall’s Cup winner Phil Turners Reichel/Pugh 66 Alivewith hull damage – the skipper issued a Pan-Pan after taking on water but they did not require assistance. At that time Black Jack and LawConnect were halfway down the Tasmanian coast just outside the rhumbline and into reaching conditions which allowed Black Jack to round Tasman Island at 21.50 and, finding breeze in the Derwent, she finished at 01.37.17 to the delight of the crew onboard. For skipper Mark Bradford it was an emotional realisation, as
after the yacht’s third place in 2017, second place in 2018 and fifth in 2019 the boat left for Europe, meaning Bradford thought it was all over for a possible Hobart win. Not so – and having shipped it back home then fitted a new rig late last year, it was a deeply moving moment winning this tough race after 14 years of trying. Testament to Peter Harburg’s standing in the fleet was the
comment from the owner of LawConnectChristian Beck: ‘Peter has had some bad luck in this race and if we had to be beaten by anyone we are very glad it was him.’ Critical to Black Jack’s win was staying inshore and pushing
through the hard stuff to be in good shape for the next transition ahead. LawConnect was second over the line, with Scallywag third. After leading the fleet out of the harbour a deeply disappointed David Witt summed up the race as a tough one, with a second breakage of their J2 tack fitting and a shutdown of their PLC which between them he estimated cost them 40-50 miles. And then came the 50-footers. Sixth over the line was Matt Allen’s
TP52 Ichi Ban, followed by Celestial, Sam Haynes’ TP52, which with a better rating looked to be in the running for the overall win. There were also two protests to be heard against Celestial. The first from the race committee… the other from Ichi Ban. Matt Allen summed up the race: ‘Most Hobart Races test the
entire boat and crew – this year’s more than usual. The wave conditions in the first 24 hours created really big issues for the boat – and then some very complex tactical decisions for the rest of the race meant that fast decision making was critical to have
LUIC VENANCE AFP
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