Rolex Sydney Hobart- Redress gives Pretty Fly III win in Division Zero

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com on 30 Dec 2014 The New South Wales yacht Pretty Fly III (Colin Woods) has been elevated to first place in Division Zero in the Rolex Sydney Hobart race, after a Redress Hearing was held today, in Hobart.

The incident occurred on the final night of the race as the remaining Division Zero competitors - mostly 45 - 50ft canting keelboats - raced at speeds in excess of 20kts driven by a strong northerly that gusted up to 35kts.

Patrice (Tony Kirby), a Ker 46 hit a shark with her rudder, causing her to lose steerage and broach.

At the time they did not know what had happened, just that they had lost steerage.

The yacht broached out of control and they radioed other boats in the vicinity that they had lost steerage.

Pretty Fly III, a Cookson 50, formerly the NZ owned Pussy Galore, diverted to see if she was required to give assistance. In the process had to take violent action to avoid the out of control Patrice, which has the AIS alarms screaming indicating an imminent collision. Pretty Fly III lost their A5 and their masthead halyard in the process.

Patrice eventually cleared the shark from her rudder, regaining steer and and resumed the race.

By the time Pretty Fly III had recovered she was well behind the group of four - which included Victoire (Darryl Hodgkinson), overall winner of Division Zero and the 2013 edition. She was also the overall winner of the 2013 Rolex Sydney Hobart race.

Throughout the incident, Patrice kept a log of timelines and time lost by competitors who responded. These were used to support Pretty Fly III's redress claim.

With a combination of hard sailing in the big breeze and steep seas, plus smart strategy in avoiding the lead group who parked up in the lee of Tasman Island, Pretty Fly III, whose 11 strong crew includes five New Zealanders, was able to overtake the lead group.

During the final morning Victoire, being better optimised for upwind (as well as rating lower) gradually cut out Pretty Fly III's lead, passing them to finish 82 seconds ahead.

At the Hearing the International Jury granted Pretty Fly III 13 minutes of Redress for diverting to stand by Patrice, time lost in their avoiding action and recovery, and for the time lost through being unable to fly a sail from the mast head halyard.

That Redress when deducted from her actual finish time was sufficient after TCF's (handicaps) were applied for Pretty Fly III win by 3 minutes and 41 secs.