Fatal Storm

Fatal Storm by Rob Mundle

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Authors: Rob Mundle
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the dock lines to make it impossible for those onshore to step aboard. As the pipe band played the Lord Mayor’s car slowly made its way through the crowd. The Lord Mayor alighted to be greeted by the call for “three rousing British cheers”.
    It soon became apparent this was a “no-host party”. But in Hobart you don’t need a host, in fact you don’t really need a reason for a party. Eventually Huey Long arrived and it took him no time to realise what was happening. He retreated rapidly to his hotel and spent the next few hours trying unsuccessfully to charter an aircraft out of town.
    “Sadly, Huey missed a great party,” Mickleborough said. “Even the police joined in.”
    Huey Long suffered no long-term effects after the 1962 post-race celebrations, and the magic of Hobart brought him back again and again with successively bigger yachts in the years that followed.
    The second Sydney to Hobart, in 1946, attracted a fleet of 19 starters and confirmed the race’s future. Once again the colourful comments and plaudits flowed following its completion. Seacraft magazine’s headline read: “Small Yacht Wins Again… Christina ’s great victory proves that the present generation can provide its full quota of iron men to sail the wooden ships.”
    The following year the fleet expanded to 28, but further growth stalled until 1956. From that year on the Sydney to Hobart continued to grow through to 1985 when a fleet of 180 set sail. Nothing could compare though with the 50th anniversary race in 1994. In what was to be one of the greatest assemblies of ocean racing yachts and talent the world had seen, a staggering 371 yachts lined up on Sydney Harbour. It was an unprecedented show of strength even by international standards.
    Accompanying the growth of the race over more than five decades has been the steady development of one of the best safety and communication networks covering any of the world’s major offshore events. Due to the probability of inclement, if not downright ferocious, weather, the Sydney to Hobart has become an annual testbed for race organisation, yacht design and hull construction. Top international sailors like New Zealander Geoff Stagg do this race as often as possible “for a reality check”. Stagg, who is the representative-at-large for the world’s most successful ocean racing yacht designer, Bruce Farr of Annapolis in Maryland, was aboard the 1997 race winner, Beau Geste. He reckons the Sydney to Hobart stresses just about everything – the structure, rig, sails and crew. “The Hobart is a bloody great race. I think it’s actually tougher than an around-the-world race because I don’t think the around-the-world racers get anything like theextreme conditions you get in a Hobart race. The Hobart race also demands a good all-round boat. Oneway machines rarely do any good. In fact very few of them actually finish.” Stagg said that one of the most difficult aspects lay with the crew and what was demanded of them.
    “You need a real balance. It’s hard for the crew in the middle of the boat to understand that in a race like the Hobart they have to stay on the rail [sitting on the windward side of the deck] around the clock when you are belting upwind. Their weight is crucial to the performance of the yacht. It doesn’t matter how tired you are, you have to stay there. At the same time we have to get the helmsman and [sail] trimmer who are off watch down below to rest. Having them rested for their next watch is just as crucial as having the remaining crew on the rail. When the moment presents itself, when we crack off or set spinnakers, that’s when the bulk of the crew can catch up on a lot of sleep. That’s the key to winning races. It’s a team effort. If you don’t do that you’re not serious about winning.”
    There are numerous impressive statistics associated with the Sydney to Hobart. Prior to the 1998 event, a total of 4230 yachts had faced the starter and they had

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