2010 Sydney-Hobart Ocean Race-WOXI again?

2010 Sydney-Hobart-- Wild Oats XI

from The Australian.com:


A SINGLE broken fuse - a $20 part on a $3 million yacht - caused a night of anguish for one of the world's best skippers.

It almost sank Wild Oats XI's claim to a fifth Sydney to Hobart line-honours title in six years.

As the award-winning supermaxi prepared to cross Bass Strait on Tuesday morning, buffeted by giant swells and 40-knot winds, the crew realised their high-frequency radio was not working.

Since the horror 1998 race, in which five boats sank and six sailors died in mountainous seas, a working HF radio has been a safety condition of embarking on the treacherous trip between the mainland and Tasmania.

Wild Oats had a problem. The crew used a satellite phone to contact the race committee as they approached Green Cape, at the entrance to Bass Strait, and reported the bad news.

After being told the yacht could not continue, skipper Mark Richards stopped racing for 20 minutes and sent a crew member scurrying below to find the fault. They unearthed the problem: a $20 fuse in the hull at the rear of the yacht had become wet. In short time they fixed it and called Hobart Radio, a radio monitoring station, and were told they were being received.

But, critically, the broadcast was apparently not picked up by either of the race committee's radio-relay vessels, the motor cruiser JBW and training ship Young Endeavour. This caused the committee, which runs the 628-nautical-mile ocean classic, to protest that Wild Oats had entered Bass Strait without a functioning radio, a serious safety breach that could have seen it stripped of victory. Wild Oats raced on, but when it pulled into Hobart's Constitution Dock later that night, it was awarded only "provisional" honours.

Standing on the dock, Richards and Bob Oatley, the multi-millionaire owner of Wild Oats, insisted they had obeyed the rules and remained confident an international jury set up to adjudicate the following day would ultimately award them their fifth title.

"That's why you have five fingers, the five Hobarts," Richards said after reaching the finish line in two days, seven hours, 37 minutes and 20 seconds.

But Richards would have to wait. Yesterday, he emerged jubilant from a hearing of the five-man jury. "You bloody beauty! Protest dismissed," he shouted, punching the air with his clenched fist.

"This is a real wake-up call, that a little $20 fuse can ruin your day. We will lift our game next year and probably have two radios on board to do the job - but the result is a good one."

Richards said that when presented with the facts of the case, some of which were not available to the race committee when it lodged its protest on Tuesday evening, the jury accepted Wild Oats had not breached the race rules.

Just over an hour later, at Constitution Dock on Hobart's waterfront, Richards was presented with the John Illingworth trophy and the Rolex watch for his win over the 70-strong fleet.

"It is a big deal," he said. "We had a sleepless night last night - it was probably worse than going through Bass Strait.

"Two things (have) come out of this whole deal and that is that the race officials are very serious about the safety aspects of this race, and if you don't abide by those procedures, you'll end up being disqualified.

"At the end of the day, it is a great result for the race committee and a great result for Wild Oats."

The Australian has learned that the radio signal from Wild Oats was received by Tasmania's Coast Radio, also known as Hobart Coast Radio, but not by two receiver vessels. Based in the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, the high frequency Coast Radio service records all messages made and received by all yachts throughout the race.

The message from Wild Oats confirming it had passed Green Cape and was entering Bass Strait was received by it and not the receiver boats because of a quirk of high frequency messages.

These rely on the ionosphere to refract messages back to earth and under certain atmospheric conditions, messages are sometimes better received further away from their source.

Coast Radio manager Alastair Douglas would not comment on the situation relating to Wild Oats, nor confirm that Coast Radio had provided the recording of Wild Oats's message as evidence to the international jury. "It's probably better not to say," he said. "However, I can say that we record everything from the start to the finish (of the race) that is received from all the yachts."

The controversy has sparked debate about the communication technology used in the race.

Richards said the HF radios used in the race were "archaic" and he suggested that "proper satellite communication" be introduced for communication between boats so that aerials, antennas and such things were no longer so important.

"I look forward to that day because a lot of other countries are using new technology and we have it on board and it is a big deal. We need modern communication because sometimes we are 120 nautical miles off land and we can't be rescued by helicopter or by anyone else."

Richards said the Sydney-Hobart race, one of sailing's blue-water classics, should be leading the way in safety technology.

Sandy Oatley, the co-owner of the boat with his father, Bob, said he was very relieved with the result. "We were quietly confident, but very nervous because we really couldn't see what we had done wrong," he said.

"We had big discussions yesterday and today, and read the sailing instructions and we thought we had ticked all boxes. But the system is the system and there was a technicality, so the right decision has been made, and I think sailing and safety will be the better for it."

Three yachts in the 66-year history of the race have had line honours wins stripped from them.

In 1953, Wild Wave was disqualified for causing a collision at the start; in 1983, Nirvana was disqualified for not giving Condor room while sailing up the Derwent River; and in 1999, Rothmans was hit with a time penalty when photographed in Bass Strait flying a spinnaker with the word Rothmans on it. Commercial advertising was not then allowed on racing yachts.

The protest against British yacht RAN, also for breaking radio rules, was dismissed when the jury found the yacht had reported by HF radio and received acknowledgement before it passed Gabo Island. The radio later malfunctioned and RAN reported all subsequent schedules by telephone.

Oatley and Richards said Wild Oats would line up for next year's Sydney-Hobart race and try to better the elapsed time record it set in its first race in 2005. Until then, however, there is belated celebrating to do. "We had a great night last night because in our hearts we knew we had done the right thing," Richards said. "But tonight will be big."

theaustralian.com.au