Sydney Hobart Race – the 628nm Windward/Leeward (Pt III)

by John Curnow on 8 Dec 2015 A long time ago, the great John Cleese did some corporate training videos. As part of one of the scenes about the balance sheet, there was a line with words to the effect of, “It is not the window to show the state of the company, but rather the blind drawn up by accountants to keep management in the dark!”

So how does all of this apply to the Sydney Hobart Race? Well a lot of the talk will centre on a thing called the weather window. It’s a frame reflecting on the state of play with the prevailing weather patterns. Remember here that the East coast of Australia has ‘change’ as the cornerstone of its mission statement for Summer weather. There can be scorching sun, screaming winds, hail and bushfires all on the one day and all in the one location, too!

In short, the weather window describes which sectors of the fleet will receive what kind of weather and most importantly, at what time and for how long. The old rule was that you would always get a beating, but it was just how much of your trip South would take this form. In 1998, an East Coast Low formed and it put paid to many a sailor’s journey that year and regrettably, permanently so for six souls. An ECL is meteorologists' speak for a cyclone below the Tropic of Capricorn, and that one was particularly bad. So what we’re going to do here is pull the blind up and see what there is to learn about coastal seamanship.

Now as a great sailor, it would be easy to think that Matt Allen would have too many souls on the crew register for just the one boat. The solution would be to campaign two craft. However, the sight of two Ichi Bans on the entry list for the Sydney Hobart Race is less about people and way, way more about suitability. “We were only going to take one boat. Actually, my wife, Lisa, generated the idea some years ago. She said, ‘Why don’t you have a boat that is more suited to an entirely downwind race and one more suited to downhill and then into the front or whatever comes along?”

“Maybe the idea took a little while to germinate and sprout in my brain, and we figured that the Shaun Carkeek penned, 60-foot Ichi Ban is good for the latter job, as it is designed for proper racing conditions. So it was when we met up with Rolf Vrolijk in Dubai earlier on in the year, whilst we were contemplating building or buying a TP52 and modifying it to become more IRC orientated, that the plan formulated.”

“Rolf said that Shogun V (a Judel/Vrolijk penned TP that was launched as one of the countless Azzurras) was available for sale at the time. He said ‘…well it’s the best downhill TP ever and it’s a better downhill boat than the new ones. It can be turbo charged, if that helps, by changing the fin, the rig and sail plan’ (Shogun V was sitting idle after being dismasted). So that’s exactly what we did, and I think we have proved it to be valid at Hamilton Island this year”, said Allen.

The boat was subsequently fitted with an even taller high modulus carbon rig than the original, which was combined with carbon standing rigging, as well. It did not alter the fore triangle, but certainly the mainsail luff got longer and notably the ‘chutes got even bigger (to 274m2), which was an important component of the ‘turbo-charging’. The same jibs were carried over and the rig is designed to go into the ocean. It is reasonably similar to the TP Super Series TP52 rigs that they are currently utilising, just a bit bigger.

The other important alteration was the new keel fin that increased her draught and lightened her displacement. The rule of thumb is add 100mm and lose 100Kg. “Yes, we actually lost a bit more weight than that. Between the new rig, losing the rod rigging and the new fin which has got some hollows in it that are then subsequently filled in, it is more like 300-plus kilos.”

“So we were able to drop a reasonable amount of weight all up. Having wanted to emphasize the downwind capabilities of the boat, the lighter displacement also means we were not adding to the previous configuration by the time you put all the Cat1 or 2 safety gear on board. So the boat is lighter and is fun to sail. “Everything we have seen of the boat shows that it is absolutely wicked when reaching and running. We are learning how to sail it better and better upwind, so there is a lot left in the tank.”

“When we hit Hamilton Island we only really had seven or eight days of sailing in the boat, and in TP52s all together, so there was a lot of runway for us to improve. That regatta, as it often is, tends to be a case of sail upwind and against the tide, so the beats are quite long. Obviously it’s an advantage to have a boat that is a bit better upwind, but you can’t reconfigure the boat for every single regatta…”

Now the Ichi Ban camp has not worked out at what stage they will make the call on which boat they are going to take. It could be one day or two hours, so it would seem we will know on the start line whether it is to be the black or the blue… For two souls in particular that could mean eat all you want for Christmas or go get the wet weather gear sorted.

“Both boats have qualified and are pretty much ready to go. We are going to tinker around with a couple of the configurations on a few bits and pieces. The crew is pretty much the same for both craft, but we have got a couple of extras to come on the bigger boat to add to the sailing displacement, and they are quite happy with the arrangement.”

Now the exceptionally proficient and much sought after Navigator, Will Oxley, will be present, irrespective of which Ichi Ban heads for Hobart, for it will be his job to keep abreast of the ever changing weather window and route the boat for optimal success.

Given that there is just about always some windward work do be done during a Sydney Hobart Race, even if they take the TP, they will still have to use the working sails at some point. Ken Read has said that another super-wide craft, Comanche, likes to be at 25? heeling angle to extract her best efforts. That’s probably not so strange when you factor in that VPLP were part of the design team. Reason? Simple – the part of the hull in the water would look a lot more like a mutlihull’s profile than a super maxi monohull – and that means speed!

“I do think the TP needs to be reasonably pressed, as do a lot of the modern hulls. There is not a lot of freeboard down at the quarters, so it will be a very fine angle that we will be playing with. I don’t think that angle of heel is hard to find, but if we have got heavy uphill conditions, then we are probably in the wrong boat!!!”

“It is fair to say that these boats are not designed to go to windward in 35 knots of breeze in your average New South Wales coast wind against tide type program. Still, you are only looking for a very small weather window these days and the boats are quick enough to get you to the bottom in some races before you hit the next front. It’s not like the old days when you knew you were going to cop a front and just weren’t sure when. Equally, you can start in the last bit of the Southerly, where the sea conditions are a little bit bumpy, but the wind is starting to get pretty close to backing into the East and Nor’east and then you can run the whole way. We will see what the weather gods have got in store for us.”

Many can remember getting a thorough spanking on the way to Hobart. It did seem par for the course back then, but the point remains that to have a serious tilt at the race, firstly you have to win your division, and then subsequently the weather gods have to anoint your class as the one to which the highest honour will be awarded – the outright win.

Now I got it wrong last year. I said that a 40–something could not win anymore, because the 50s and above are now that quick that it shortened the window down too far for the rest. As we saw it was a superbly sailed 40 that got up, and not a new one at that, but a very old one. I have paid the price for that remark. “Yes you had your head handed to you really, didn’t you”, said Allen.

“I have been assured that the weather forecast team are getting better and better. We all know it is not perfect, but it’s on the up and up. I think there is no doubt any size of boat can win the race. You have to be the best in your division and away you go. I think that has been the race forever and a day. The difference now is that the Division D or whatever is no faster or slower than it used to be, but obviously the upper divisions are a lot faster.”

“It is the weather window that offsets the rating differences. If you have a TP52 versus some of the older boats on a windward/leeward course and then compare on corrected times, well, we all know who is going to win. Yet this is the great thing about the Sydney to Hobart Race. So long as you win your division you have got a reasonable chance of winning the race overall! It will also move around the divisions from year to year depending on the prevailing set of weather conditions.”

So it is more than fair to say that Allen would be hoping for weather similar to Nokia’s record run (VO60). It was heavy and they two-sailed for a lot of it, where as today they might have been able to fly something else with all the changes in sail technology. “Yes! Absolutely. Something like that would be interesting for the TP. It would be quite wet, too!!! We would have very long arms by the time we got to Hobart.” (As a GenV TP, Ichi Ban only has a tiller.)

That would mean just 30-minutes on the tiller and possibly with two people holding it. “We have got pretty much both bases covered, depending on what the weather looks like. The 60-footer does all conditions well. It is good downhill and a lot better uphill than it was since we did a couple of tweaks with the rudder and things. The boat is going well and I think either one will give us a chance with the right weather.”

Now speaking of two-boat campaigns, there is one outfit that will definitely be fielding both craft on Boxing Day. Reason is that it is Grandfather and Grandson. The former will be on his Andy Dovell hulled 100-footer and the latter will skipper his Pa’s TP52. They are of course Syd and Brenton Fischer.

Fischer the Junior said, “Our 2005, GenIII, Farr-penned hull#586 has had a new paint job. Ragamuffin 52 now looks the same as Ragamuffin 100, with the white hull and blue highlighting around her prow and coaming. We had ‘Mini-Me’ lined up beside the big boat the other day and the tip of the prodder (bowsprit) does not even make the mast!”

“After Syd bought the 100, the TP kind of got forgotten about somewhat. So I jumped at it. Syd just said, ‘Yes. Knock yourself out, but don’t break it - break it and you buy it!’ Honestly though, what’s not to love about the TPs? They are one of the best keelboats ever boat made. So fast and powerful - really balanced and an absolute handful when reaching across a 30 knot breeze.”

“Certainly they are the modern skiff on steroids, so it was not a bad thing to collect on the way through… She was previously dry-sailed, but we put antifouling on her and she’s now in water for ease of use. The boat performs well and I have really loved it all after my first serious ocean race, which was the 2014 Pittwater to Coffs event. It was also my first as Skipper, so to come away with the win was not only a good introduction, but also really pleasing”, said Fischer.

“Syd is coming into his 89th birthday next March and is really pleased to see someone else in family taking an interest. I do look forward to seeing it all unfold and we’re doing better than we expected at this stage. I’m just so impressed with (14 up) crew that’s on it. We are an interesting collection of sailors and ever since we stepped on board everything just seems to work, so they must be good crew. We have been and will continue to be out there doing a fair bit of practice, so it should be a great run South!”

The weather gods are probably having their planning meetings about now and come Boxing Day, we’ll all be let in to the party. Superb coverage means we’ll get to see it up close and personal, not just rely on the one supreme image, as per the case of the masterful Richard Bennett’s pic of Kialoa III. Of course the sailors will be out in it, living with man’s oldest challenge for one to four or five days, and that really is a very big window indeed! So stay here on Sail-World.com for the complete story and stay out of the dark…