The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is often described as the most grueling ocean race in the world. At 628 nautical miles, the fleet starts in Sydney Harbor, sails out into the Tasman Sea, down the south-east coast of mainland Australia, across Bass Strait (which divides the mainland from the island State of Tasmania), then down the east coast of Tasmania. At Tasman Island the fleet turns right into Storm Bay for the final sail up the Derwent River to the historic port city of Hobart.
The first night of the race brought less than ideal conditions and caused more than 25 crews to retire early due to damage. Comanche almost had to retire herself after sustaining damage to her daggerboard the first night of the race.
“The first thing was we had to get rid of the daggerboard,” Skipper Ken Read recalls.
“It was attached by a bunch of ropes and you could hear it flailing around under the boat. I was most worried about the sharp edges of the daggerboard actually puncturing up through the hull of the boat. So we desperately cut the ropes to get rid of the daggerboard. And of course when we got rid of the daggerboard by cutting the ropes we saved the hull but kind of cleaned out the rudder on the way through.”
“That’s when we said we’re done,” Read said. “We stopped and took all the sails down. We actually started kind of drifting back towards Sydney. And then all of a sudden I see the tools come out and when I see the tools come out with these guys that’s usually a good sign that they have an idea."
Comanche managed to contain the damage and continued on, while American rival Rambler took the lead. Only 13 hours later, Comanche would take the lead.
“About half way through we put in a long port tack and chewed up Rambler,” Read says. “We went from let’s just finish to, holy crap, we might win this thing.”
https://youtu.be/_NtaEuhznik
When Comanche crossed the finish line at Castray Esplanade in Hobart, Tasmania today, history was created, because Kristy Clark became the first female owner to take line honours in the blue water classic. Co-owner and husband Jim stayed ashore. Annapolis Jon von Schwarz was the winch specialist onboard.
https://youtu.be/x-m6dZVMs70
The last American to take line honours in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s race was Larry Ellison’s Sayonara, 17 years ago. Comanche's finish time of two days eight hours 58 minutes 30 seconds was outside the record of one day 18 hours 23 minutes 12 seconds set by Wild Oats XI in 2012. Regardless, Comanche's efforts were quite the achievement. This was the first time a boat had retired, started to sail back to Sydney, and then went on to win the race.
For more on the race, click to rolexsydneyhobart.com or to the Twitter feed @rshyr. Be sure to check the standings here as boats continue to make their way in.
