Etihad Stadium supermaxi mast on its way

by Etihad Stadium Media on 16 Dec 2009 The replacement mast for Grant Wharington’s Etihad Stadium Supermaxi has been secured and paid for, then cut in half for ease of transport, and 50% of the cargo plane puzzle has been solved ... now it’s just a case of hurry up but wait, until the mast arrives in Australia.

“We are finally moving forward after many sleepless hours and days!!” said Wharington this morning.

The extendable semi trailer loads the mast in about 8 hours time and heads to Liege, which is about 50 miles south east of Brussels. Then a TNT freight 747 plane takes the mast package to Hong Kong.

The Etihad Stadium Supermaxi crew are anxiously waiting for confirmation of a connection to Sydney – this is being frantically worked on this morning and it is hoped this will be locked in very soon to get the precious cargo to Sydney ASAP.

“At this stage, there looks to be a flight from Hong Kong getting into Sydney on Monday AM. This will be very tight for the great race but we keep batting on..” Wharington said.

In the mean time, all work is continuing on the boat’s preparation for the 2009 Rolex Sydney Hobart, with suppliers working overtime to brand clothing and sails with the new naming Rights partner, Etihad Stadium.

The Southern Spars engagement with the Etihad Stadium Supermaxi is due to the fact that the replacement mast, owned by Alfa Romeo's Neville Crichton, has been built by them, and they want to see it assembled and standing to their satisfaction.

Whilst there is plenty of speculation at yacht clubs and marinas all around the world as to what caused the mast to fail on the boat last Friday on its fully crewed race mode delivery from Melbourne to Sydney, it is virtually impossible to ever find out.

“The rig was not recovered, so really, there’s no way of us ever definitively knowing what has caused the failure” said Grant.