Sydney Hobart Race – Six P’s, One L and a heap of T’s for Balance

by John Curnow on 6 Jan 2016 Any event described as a classic is steeped in both folklore and rules of thumb. They’re pieces of sage advice to help you with how you should proceed. In this way, the Sydney Hobart Race is no different.

Some of the underlining elements for Australia’s blue water classic are that you go to sea in a well-prepared boat and that you head out into the East Australia Current early and then hug the Tasmanian coast later on.

Now the art or craft is then knowing which ones are mandatory, no matter what, and those that are more like guidelines and dependant on things like the prevailing or indeed expected conditions.

Having the mouse in for the third reef whilst the boat’s still in the pen sounds pretty essential to me, but choosing your course and having the right sails on deck are thoughts you may opt to confirm once you have had a good look out of the boat.

Everyone’s a hero in the bar or watching the start on TV, but when you’re out there and it’s oh-so-black, nous may get you so far, but prudence will keep you afloat. You see, one of those mandatory intonations is that it is nice to finish first, but first you have to finish.

Modern carbon fibre racers are built for speed. They’re flat, launch off waves like hangliders from a cliff, smack the water when landing with a ferocity the likes of which are not seen on land, and are so unforgiving by virtue of the very substance that makes them so light and fast.

They are also very wide, with open spaces that make prairies look like back yards and there is not much to stop you should you fall over, other than your fellow crewmates and usually you’ll skittle them too. Bruises just appear and it is a terrific testament to the overall seamanship of the racers last year that there was only one broken leg and some cracked ribs.

Black Eyed Peas

So yes, prior preparation prevents a piss poor performance. In the case of last year’s Tattersall’s Cup winner it was not just training the crew or having the right sails on board. It also speaks volumes as to the boat herself. The TP52 now known as, Balance, was penned by Farr Yacht Design and is one of like 11 built by Goetz (Bristol, R.I. USA) over the years and generations of craft. Yet it is her previous form as the 2008 overall winner, when she was Quest, that is the really telling tale.

Bob Steel campaigned her hard, but she was well maintained and not long before he sold her to Paul Clitheroe, Quest had undergone a minor refit. “One of the reasons I bought Quest is that she seemed to perform well and you did not see her returning early due to retiring from racing”, said Clitheroe. So now during the course of this article we will get to see that there are more than just the one parallel between the boat’s previous and current owner, too.

Clitheroe commented about that winning feeling, “It certainly is an unusual start to the year, for you don’t have a Hobart win in your pocket every time! The boat has won twice, but it is unlikely I’m going to back it up… My mates are saying that boat is so good, even your poor steering can’t slow it down. It’s a good thing then that we have two of best on board for their 26th and 37th Hobarts, and they compensate for me beautifully!”

He is speaking of Adam Brown and Mike Green, respectively, and sings nothing but praise for them, their overall seamanship and especially heavy weather helming. “This Balance is the sixth boat and I am so very lucky to have had most of the crew with me for the whole journey over the last ten years. They can all remember the Beneteau Oceanis 33 that was first cab off the rank, then the First 40.7, Sydney 47 and the Beneteau First 45 that preceded this boat.”

Indeed you will find they are all there by choice, not chequebook, as Clitheroe explains, “Yes. We are an all-amateur crew. Everyone has day jobs and the crew work during this race was really awesome. We lost over two feet from the bottom of the foil around the forestay. I can still see the poor buggers, waves breaking over them, and feeding the boltrope into a shattered piece of carbon. What a great effort.”

“It was also a good thing that as a crew we are very good at using sticky back, which we got trained on extensively after we tore the mainsail on the First 45 completely in half, and then put it back together again with that marvellous product.”

“This time it was really bad below the first reef. When we went to the second we could not tuck the reef in properly. There was no way I was going to have someone go out the boom to strap it down, so it flogged itself so badly that it looked like mosquito netting.”

Frank Sinatra

So luck may have well been a lady that first night. Clitheroe added, “We lost all of the laminate, but that meant the sticky back went straight onto the carbon fibres. When we pooped out from the NSW coast we got becalmed for about four hours. It was perfect timing.”

“There was not a breath of wind and there would be no sailing to be done, even if we had everything ready, so we got to do our repairs and then the sun came beaming down to bake the sticky back onto the black carbon. Simply perfect - you need luck to win the Hobart and we repaired it with no loss to boat speed.”

“So yes, we were very fortunate that there was nothing too major to speak of, in terms of gear failure. Our main goal was to be the first TP home, which meant being the best of ten. We had expected that Southerly buster to last longer and went inside Montague Island, as a result.”

“We had 12 hours of heavy air and then during the radio sked whilst we were at the bottom of NSW that morning we learned that due to all the retirements we now only needed to be the best of three TPs. We said, how fantastic. We’re lucky – we’re still sailing!”

However, it was reasonably clear that the bowsprit had suffered some internal and significant structural damage. We have two bobstays, but the lateral pressure caused issue with the code zero up and a lot of chest pains in the afterguard. Dead downhill was OK, but the more we heated up, the worse it got and we had a lot of favourable conditions in the Tasmanian sector of the race”, Clitheroe commented.

Michael Jackson

“At Tasman Island we had 18 knots from the Sou’west, but thankfully no waves to speak of, so it was just a consistent and manageable bend in the prodder. It really looked like a bit of plasticine.”

“As an owner, this sector was the thrill of my life! Back in the Beneteau First 45 days, Victoire and Balance both sat there and Darryl (Hodgkinson, whom Clitheroe now joins as a Hobart winner) and I literally waved at each other. 10 hours later it fired up again. This time, we did Tasman Light to the finish in less than three hours, constantly pulling 16/18/20 knots, with an average of 14. For me this is the best – 1130hrs at Tasman and then stormed in, where as the main opposition got there at night and had to wait it out.”

“I fully empathise with them and really felt for Quikpoint Azzurro, hoping it would come in so they would not slip down to 20th place. So it was good that they got in and of course, I am even happier that we walked away with the win. You can sail this race well, but you do need some good luck with the overall timing. I am also delighted that we finished in seventh place, Line Honours.”

“When we got into town, the Taste of Tasmania were finishing lunch and we had a couple of thousand cheering us. The hair stood up on the back of my neck. Gee that was a great moment and totally unexpected!”

Speaking a few days after all the festivities, Clitheroe commented, “As for my 60 year old body, well I feel fine, but am moving gingerly. Everything hurts, the head’s clear, but the body is not so flash. I am very thankful for my loyal crew, even if they did insist we go to the pub to celebrate the Division One win that first night. We stayed until dawn and there was no-one in sight (Teasing Machine)”

“The next night it was waiting for Azzurro, which was five in the morning and they were still pouring rum down my throat. Two nights at the pub is almost harder than the race. Five nights in its entirety and hospital was on the horizon.”

“That first night out in the storm was a killer. We saw 45 knots, so breeze against tide and that seaway was awful. As a result we had a lot of airtime, landing like a stone time and time again! So really, I cannot compare that to a warm pub and some rum. We were worried about gear failure, but as a skipper I am most concerned with keeping the boat, and therefore the crew, safe and well”, said Clitheroe reflecting for a moment.

Thinking about the quantum of the effort for a second, Clitheroe said, “Yes, there is a bit of jump to the TP. We did not have to hang off the rail in the quarters on the ocean grader and hot meals appeared mysteriously from the oven. The re-hydrated food on these racing machines is literally cardboard in salt water.”

“I could even sit beside the navigator and listen to the radio sked, rather than crawl in, face down mind you, to a black warren and try to be enthused about everyone else’s position. Yes, they had many redeeming features, and they are looking better as each day goes by…”

“Where the TP is better, apart from the speed and thrill of it all is that I can get 10 people behind the helmer during the many twilights we do and that adds to the overall safety.”

Katy Perry

So Clitheroe has the eye of the tiger now and he’s really listened to the roar of a great lion in Bob Steel. “18 months ago when I bought Quest, Bob, who’s a few years more advanced than I, said to me, the back’s gone and the boat’s too hard. Give it a go for a few years, but do it now, because you won’t otherwise.”

“He’s right. I have a couple more years of this in me. Yesterday I could not even get out of bed and I’m not doing another Hobart today, but I’ll forget soon enough, so there’ll be no retirement in a blaze of glory yet...”

“What Bob’s done with the M.A.T 1180 is the right thing, but I’ll go with a full head and galley. I cannot see myself going bigger than this, as you can still be an owner driver with the 52, so a 60 is not on the cards for me and I don’t won’t to go fully professional, either.”

In closing, the very affable Clitheroe said, “The biggest thing for me is just the respect I have for the crew and most have been with me for this, my sixth boat. Look at Dave Keddie on the mainsail. His wife, Yvette, said he was a boring accountant. So he did a sailing course, joined me on the 40.7 for a trial on a twilight, we got on so well, he’s since joined me for seven Hobarts and now he’s a champion! Seeing them all receive their Hobart medals, well I almost cried. It was my best moment, and I am just so thrilled for them.”

As an aside, and in winding up, some may wonder if Matt Allen should have taken the blue TP52 with the way things have turned out and mathematically, you could have that discussion. However, the man himself said, “We always thought it was going to be a big boat race and that certainly influenced us to take the Carkeek 60 over the TP, which is definitely more of a downhill boat.”

“We were amazed once outside the Heads to see just how far we and Chinese Whisper had taken off from the other boats like the TPs, even the VO70 Maserati. We could not tell which one of the TPs was which at that stage. Obviously Maserati came on strong thereafter, but it was certainly a really wonderful start and yes, it was a big boat race for sure.”

“The really telling tale here is that one of the elements in choosing the 60 was that it was going to be a bit more comfortable for the crew. Not only that, we have got to Hobart with a fully intact vessel, and more importantly, crew too! That has to be the best thing about it all, in the end.”

The TP reigned supreme once more in their illustrious career. It is possibly not that surprising that it was Balance, given the experience on board and earlier hull form, which suits the windward/leeward nature of the Sydney Hobart Race.

So next year will loom as an interesting discussion starter. Will Comanche come to set a record for the whole journey and not just the dash to the Heads? Can Rambler 88 take a big scalp? Which of the daggerboard designers/engineers has been watching and thinking the most?

After all that there is only one item up for consideration - which division will get the blind lifted from the weather window? Some great questions, for sure, and the only answer is that Sail-World.com will bring you the best analysis… Stay tuned and thank you for reading. ‘Tis appreciated.