Sydney-Hobart 2015

Sh1977

1977 Sydney-Hobart. The southerly change raising wind to 35-40 knots happened under mostly clear skies surprising the two leaders-Kialoa and Windward Passage. They were caught with their spinnakers up as the wind suddenly switched. The whole film is interesting but the video of the two boats
getting hit by the "new" wind is outstanding. Starting a bit after 16 min in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEDauGt2dHA

 

Sh 2015

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This mornings weather forecast: http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/news/2015/pre-race/race-for-line-honours-wide-open/

Go Wild Oats!!!!!

And you too, Rambler 88!!

 

don't overdoublethink it

back on page one, Doug posted a scuttlebutt link that made me smile.

Maybe they got a dictionary for Christmas.

 

Nic Douglas is LIVE on video NOW (4pm Eastern (US))-see link above.

 

A side note about one of my favorite subjects: this will be the first time that two hydrofoil(foil assist) equipped boats will race in the Sydney-Hobart and probably one of the first ocean races anywhere with two DSS equipped boats. Both Wild Oats XI and Rambler 88 are using DSS foils that develop tons of extra RM while generating vertical lift that actually reduces the displacement of the boats using the foil(s).

 

Despite what was said on the Sydney-Hobart website the policy of preventing those in the US(and probably anywhere else besides Australia) from seeing the start apparently continues. Neither "Yahoo" of the SH website has any live video and the start is in 20 minutes.
Nic Douglas-Sailergirl-is live on audio but with very low volume. Her previous show with live video was just excellent...

 

Sh 2015

Rambler and Comanche out in front-Wild Oats in 5th!! Perpetual Loyal has a problem...... Thanks to Nic Douglas!(who has dropped off!! as of9:46 pmEastern).
And the SH website video is non functional! Amazing!!!
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AT 9:50 the tracker shows Rambler in the lead , Wild Oats second and Comanche third. However, that doesn't seem right based on the last word from Nick over half an hour ago.
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Hah! At 9:54 the tracker shows Comanche way out in front, Rambler second, Wild Oats and Ragamuffn second and third.
So I guess nothing is working right though this last position is closer to what Nic was reporting .... I give up.

Go Wild Oats!!!!!

And you too Rambler 88!!!

 

Loyal actually got to the first mark in the lead. WOXI won the start but didn't look particularly quick upwind. Loyal split from the fleet twice and picked the shifts perfectly (which got us excited since Tom S and Grunter are with Cocko in the afterguard) but Comanche is miles quicker on the reach. Loyal dropped right back after two of her gennakers failed to unfurl. David "Rat" Blanchfield is onboard so I assume he's working point and he's one of the best bowmen in Oz, so who knows what is happening.

Rambler is fast but high, Rags conservative at the start but so far appears to be as quick as WOXI.

As usual, very poor coverage of the smaller boats. Courier Nord (sp), the Fastnet winner, has not been mentioned at all.

The number of overseas boats has disguised the low number of local boats. Ocean racing is at a low ebb which indicates that the concentration on big exotic boats is doing the sport no good at all. I think this is the first time since about '63 or earlier than there is not a single 30/31 footer in the race.

A big line of thunderstorms is about to roll in from the west, but at the moment the north-easter is in at about 20 knots.

 

Rambler doing very well a little further offshore in front of woxi possibly

 

Sh 2015

According to the tracker Comanche in the lead and Wild Oats and Rambler are one mile back. Comanche doing 19 knots, Rambler 24 knots, Wild Oats 23 knots. Ragamuffin is close behind WO.

 

At 2.20pm the leaders are about to get hit by the thunderstorms. Rambler may be the last to feel them. The wind inside the storm line is NW at half the current strength.

 

No tv coverage in oz either
Next watch will be a TAG

 

Ct is there a record anywhere of all the past entrants in the sh. I don't have a lot of info on my boat but it was built for long distance and it was in the cya . If it did race it would have been in the sixties.

 

Wp, go to the yacht tracker and look at the "Standings" tab. There you will find full results of recent races and a basic list of finishers and some DNFs in earlier events. 1977 for example is at

http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/standings/?raceId=47

What's your boat's name? If she is called White Pointer then I may as well mention that she's not the boat of that name that did the '77-79 races; that was a Kaufman one tonner I used to race on.

I have a stack of the old printed programmes from the '60s to the '80s that could help you out too.

 

Thanks ct. Its name is fairwinds. But i imagine there have been many boats by that name over the years. Built in sydney 1958 to a design by a c barber as far as i know.