Rolex Sydney Hobart 2012 - Listen to the Live Radio Traffic on Sail-World.com
HF Radio is the long range marine communications method used in all major ocean races, including the Rolex Sydney to Hobart.
To ensure that on water communications are as clear as possible the Sydney to Hobart fleet is accompanied by a Radio Relay vessel, John Winning’s JBW 20 metre twin screw displacement cruiser, with CYCA former Commodore David Kellett once again heading up the CYCA radio relay team.
There are a number of radio position schedules on the 628 nautical mile voyage south.
Daily position reports ‘skeds’ will be conducted at 1905 hours today 26 December on 4483 kHz and at 0735 and 1705 hours on each subsequent day on 6516 kHz.
Beyond the radio skeds, the drama of every Sydney Hobart race has played out on HF radio. The recovery of survivors from the Winston Churchill raft in 1998 still send chills down one’s spine, the capsize of Wild Thing in 2002 and rescue of all the crew.
Most recently in 2008 on Boxing Day night when the Victorian yacht, Georgia, the New Zealand built Farr 52 belonging to two Sydney to Hobart veterans John Williams and Graeme Ainley issued a May Day at 21:25 local time, when the vessel was around 34 miles east of Ulladulla.
Some of the traffic seems more mundane but the significance builds, in 2010, it was the Green Cape Light declarations, which became the subject of Race committee protest later dismissed.
Last year a side play when the end of sked report surfaced of Titania of Cowes life raft having been found at sea off the NSW Coast. She was forced into Eden to drop five crew so she was able to make her Green Cape Declaration.
During every race, there are retirements from the race; these too will be first heard via the vessels notifying JBW by radio. Then it’s the Green Cape Light declarations and the Tasman Light notifications and ETA’s to the finish line that provide more clues to the state of the race.
One thing you can be sure, the radio traffic over the cracking radio, is the familiar background noise below decks on every boat in the race, as it will at Sail-World HQ for the race duration.
Sail-World will run as many different live HF streaming radio feeds as it can, as well as recording the Radio scheds for you to listen too, at your leisure.
Here is the streaming radio link - you just need to make sure you can hear the crackle and you will be set for the race,
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