The Taste of Success for Wild Oats XI in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race
by Jim Gale, RSHYR Media 28 Dec 2014 11:35 GMT
28 December 2014
"This is the sweetest victory by far," Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards declared today after steering the silver-grey thoroughbred to a record eighth line honours victory in the Rolex Sydney Hobart.
"To rewrite a bit of sailing history doesn't come along every day. To win a Hobart is a great honour but to win an eighth; I can't believe I am here," Richards said.
"It's been the hardest win," owner Bob Oatley added. "Comanche is an exceptional yacht, probably the most expensive yacht ever built. A wonderful boat. When she took off at the start of the race I was amazed."
"Comanche was unbelievably impressive down Sydney Harbour," Richards said, "and the whole first night she had the legs on us. We thought, 'how are we going to handle this thing'?
"It was definitely our toughest race. To have a boat so close for so much of the race, especially when she's faster than you. I said to the guys 'we've got to hang in there, hang tough, minimise our losses and wait for the first opportunity we get to attack'.
The break came on Saturday morning in the middle of Bass Strait. Gone were the fresh conditions of the first day, ahead loomed a ridge of high pressure sweeping between the mainland and Tasmania; a wall of light air that would define the 2014 Rolex Sydney Hobart.
Get through the gate in time and there would be a light breeze, but a breeze nevertheless. Get caught on the wrong side and face a purgatory of calm. Wild Oats XI made the closing gate and, at last, found the lighter conditions that so suited her. She steadily pulled away from Comanche, opening up a 40 mile lead.
"It was a race to get through that gate from three days before the race," when the Bureau of Meteorology warned the competing crews of the looming ridge at the pre-race briefing at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, said Wild Oats XI's tactician Iain Murray.
"Luckily for us, we just got through the gate. Comanche got there too, but they were slow out of it. We did really well to hang onto them in the rough stuff and still be side by side with her on Saturday morning, and then it was our turn."
"It was a race to get past the ridge," Richards agreed, 'that was the whole thing. They actually slowed us down in the light weather. We went to leeward of them, but couldn't get past, so we ended up taking a big pill, lost some ground to get to weather of them. But eventually it paid off, we got past them and away we went."
The nine year-old slim Wild Oats XI, designed by Reichel/Pugh and built by McConaghy, is faster in light airs than the more powerful wider and heavier Comanche.
Oatley's yacht was in her element in Bass Strait. But as the winds built up again this morning, the balance swung back in favour of the big American. As the pair raced down the Tasmanian coast she gradually reeled Oats back in. But with lighter air forecast in Storm Bay, Richards remained confident.
"It was inevitable that they would gain on us," Richards said, "but we knew that once they got us they wouldn't get past us. We finished in our perfect conditions."
So is it official now? Is Wild Oats XI one of the greatest Sydney Hobart yachts of all time, alongside the likes of Solo, Astor, Kurrewa IV, Kialoa and Condor of Bermuda?
"Just look at the record," Richards beamed, "she'll go down as one of the legends of the race."
Can she stay at the top? Every year there have been major innovations made to the boat to keep her competitive. Are there more modifications to the 10-year-old boat to come?
"She always needs something," Bob Oatley laughs, "she is a very expensive girl to look after."
"There's not a lot left we can do to this boat other than to sail it well," Iain Murray says. "It is a great all-round boat. Clearly it has an advantage over the newer boats in light winds and it's up to us to sail the boat in stronger winds as best we can and minimise the damage."
Comanche on warpath for revenge (by Bruce Montgomery, RSHYR media)
As far as the America's Cup winning skipper Jimmy Spithill is concerned, there is now unfinished business between Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours winner Wild Oats XI and the US supermaxi she beat across the finish line, Comanche.
Spithill was one of six helmsmen on Comanche.
"We can't leave it at that," he declared after finishing in Hobart. He says that on his watch this morning the boat reached a top speed of 32 knots and knows what she is capable of.
"Everybody got to see the true potential of this boat at the start. I remember looking up at Kenny (Ken Read, the skipper) and he just had this huge grin from ear to ear. Unfortunately we just didn't see those sort of conditions again until the end of Bass Strait."
Of course, young James doesn't pay the bills. Logistically it is impossible for Comanche to come back to Australia next year but is 2016 likely?
Skipper Ken Read deferred to co-owner Kristy Hinze Clark who said it was a matter for the Big Chief, husband Jim Clark.
Ken: "Kristy, they want to know if we'll be back next year?"
Kristy: "They'll have to talk to big chief!"
Ken: "Big chief is not going to talk about that now!"
Read reflected on the crucial point of the race – the high-pressure ridge in Bass Strait.
"We were about a quarter of the way into Bass Strait and expecting a westerly breeze, and all of a sudden Stan (navigator Stan Honey) came up from down below and said 'I just got a new weather file, this is not looking good'.
"We were two miles ahead of them, in bumpy seas, and they literally went by us, probably going a knot or two faster at the time, and they just sailed into more pressure and just kept extending on the whole fleet.
"Both boats sailed a flawless race; but they had their day. They had 12 hours where they had Wild Oats' weather, but that's racing.
"You can already see Comanche is already changing sailing as we speak," Read said.
So after this first race have they identified any changes they will make to the boat?
"Here's the start of my list," he said, holding up a piece of paper with top-secret to-dos written on it.
"It's brand new, we're just starting. Before this race started, we didn't know what we didn't know. We knew we had a good boat right off the start line, the way it just took off on that windy reach.
"Unfortunately we've always known we had that one blemish in light air, and that became a dominant feature in the race, so that's unfortunate for us."
Designer Xavier Guilbaud said he couldn't take his eyes off the yacht tracker, keeping notes as Comanche changed angles and the wind circled the compass.
And, he was a bit more forthcoming with his list.
"I'm excited to see Ken's list, but on top of my own list, what I can see, is work on the weight of the boat to try to lighten her up a bit more, to increase performances in light winds," he said.
"I'll discuss with the guys here, a little later, the little bits and pieces on the deck to improve manoeuvres, how the boat is sailed. Then on the sail configuration; how to use each sail, in which condition and improve the sail shapes.
"I think we do have a record breaker on our hands. The real answer will be in June next year when it does the Transatlantic Race. I think the boat is really fast."
Read was effusive in his praise of the Wild Oats' crew.
"Wild Oats deserves all its success," he said, though fate had been against them on Day 2 in Bass Strait when Wild Oats made the better of negotiating a weather ridge that proved the defining moment of the race.
"This was their day; they had their 12 hours; they had Wild Oats' weather; but that is boat racing," he said.
"They deserve their eighth record, Lord knows we tried hard to take it from them. This team, our team, did an unbelievable job, and special credit to the boat builders and the design team because Lord knows we tried to break it, and it wouldn't break."
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