It was dream conditions this year on the way to Hobart, with several boats breaking last years record. Some of our customers had great stories to tell so we thought we would share them with you.
“Having the walls of water going over my head as the boat ploughed through the waves” was Blake Anderson’s from Doyle Sailmakers in Melbourne most memorable moment on Chutzpah, where they achieved a top speed of 25.6 knots…not bad for a 40 footer!
In a similar statement James Chilman, from Quantum Sails in Brisbane, says that he would spend most of his effort waterproofing the boat, which is not an easy task to do on a TP52 ! check the video of Envy Scooter Beach Ball.
“Breaking the 48 hour mark on a 46ft boat (something I never thought possible) and surfing across Bass strait in 25°C and 30kts from the north with a bunch of mates” That was definitely the high point for Justin Mulkearns on board Patrice. His most memorable moment was when “I had to go out on the bowsprit to fix something and found myself upside down at the end of the sprit being dunked into waves at speed. Good test of the wet weather gear. I’ve never been so happy to have been clipped on in my life! Thanks to Josh Alexander for helping me to back on the yacht”.
Bryce Edwards from Infinity rigging in Caringbah first Hobart on Highfield Caringbah TP52 “Knowing when to push and when to back off is something to pay attention to more closely to make sure you finish in the best possible shape”.
Ian Short – also on board Highfield Caringbah TP52 – said that next time he would make sure he has heavier duty weather spinnakers. His low was blowing out a heavy weather Code A4 running spinnaker, and also over shooting the layline into Tasman Island by 1.5 hours.
For Chris Anderson from Rope Solutions in Brisbane, on board Black Jack, when we asked him what he would do differently, this was his reply: “Take a moment to enjoy those sort of conditions because the next Hobart will be nothing like it!!” .
That summarizes quite well what great conditions this last race had.
