Sydney Hobart - Sydney Summer at its Best
by Sail-World on 26 Dec 2007
Balance - Sydney 47CR - Andrea Francolini Photography
http://www.afrancolini.com/
Last night Sydney 47CR Balance owner Paul Clitheroe was sure he was not going to make it to the startline. He thought he'd suffered the same fate as Geoff Hill’s Lyons 49 Strewth in the 2003 race when she was forced to pull out of the Sydney Hobart on the morning of the race.
At 7pm on Christmas night, the Balance crew tried to start their motor as they left the Fuel dock - silence… a dead starter motor. Their chances of affecting repairs or finding a new motor, while Australia was falling asleep on the lounge room floor after eating too much Christmas pudding, was zero.
However sailing cameradarie came to the fore. Another Sydney 47CR owner not racing south, heard of the dilemma and said to owner Paul Clitheroe ‘take my starter motor.’
By midnight the switchover had been made and Balance made the 63rd Hobart race start.
A much relieved Paul Clitheroe, skipper on the Sydney 47 CR Balance, reports as the fleet heads south on a perfect Sydney summer afternoon.
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