Sydney-Hobart

Sydney-Hobart starts

From Sailing Anarchy

The tactical takeaway from the Big Boat Challenge on Sydney Harbour a fortnight ago was that while AndooComanche was marginally faster than the other supermaxis in a straight line, Wild Oats XI and Black Jack – the older, narrower RP designs – pointed higher.

You’d think that fact might register on the high-powered Comanche brains trust of skipper/tactician/navigator up the back of the boat. It’s a performance difference with immediate significance for any Sydney-Hobart start in a NE breeze. That means a short, quick-tacking upwind leg in the narrow harbour before clearing the Heads and turning South.

So did AndooComanche sail defensively after the start to secure clear air and shake off the pack? Nope. Instead, they let themselves get pinned on the lee shore, on starboard tack (see above). They were soon at the mercy of the boats to windward when they would inevitably have to throw onto port. 

It’s the kind of beginner’s error you see in the Optis. When they tacked AndooComanche was immediately forced into a double-duck, a manoeuvre that stopped them almost dead in the water as they struggled to cant the keel and fill the sails.

Wild Oats XI – which had made an even worse start – quickly decided to cut their losses. They took a short dig behind the pack on port, then tacked back onto starboard with an open, fast lane to the first rounding mark. 

Struggling to make up lost ground, AndooComanche then compounded their woes by brushing the buoy and having to take a penalty turn. But there was yet more drama to come. 

During the melee in the Harbour Comanche had raised a protest flag against WOXI. When the smoke cleared skipper Mark Richards told tactician Murray Jones that he didn’t believe they had infringed. Jones, one of the most experienced big boat sailors in the world, calmly urged a ‘better safe than sorry’ response. Richards very reluctantly called for the crew to set up for the penalty turn. 

His ripe language – “Deploy the fucking jib!” – was heard loud and clear, ‘live’ on the television coverage. It’s reasonable to assume that Richards agreed to take his punishment rather than risk a repeat of the notorious incident when Wild Oats XI was penalised for a port-and-starboard breach just after the start in 2017. That mistake cost him both the win and the race record. 

Adding to the irony is that the tactician on WOXI back then was Iain Murray – the same Iain Murray who is now calling the shots on AndooComanche (and likely instigated the protest today against his old boat).   

Meanwhile, Law Connect and Black Jack sailed safe, simple legs and were soon cracking their Code Zeros for what will be a very swift run down the coast. Their reward for clear tactical thinking was an initial lead of almost half a mile.

But then, as the big boats settled down, the offshore breeze built to 15-20 knots and the sheer power of the ‘fat-arsed’ boats under their triple-headsail rigs began to tell. 

At the six-hour mark, the order at the front of the fleet was Comanche, Law Connect, Wild Oats and Black Jack. As widely expected, the TP52s are racing as a pack and already dominating the IRC standings. But there are still more than 500 miles to go.

– anarchist David