The Pain and Suffering disappears so quickly

by Rob Kothe on 1 Jan 2005 ‘On the third night of the Hobart race, we were in 40 plus knots and it was cold and very wet. I was thinking, this is ridiculous, why am I not home with the family.

But they were on the dock to meet us. The pain and suffering disappears so quickly and I’d soon decided it was a great race and well worth doing again next year,’ commented Rupert Henry, Skipper of the Sydney 38 Team Lexus.


Rupert sums up ‘the magic’ of the Rolex Sydney Hobart race and why sailors just keep coming back, time and time again.


This year, 11 Sydney 38 One Design’s started in one of the toughest ‘short’ ocean races in the world and only four made the finish line. In total there were 55 retirements out of the 116 boat fleet.


It is 628 miles from the Emerald City and the Sydney to Hobart is a race of thirds. The first is on the East Australian Current elevator to Eden, reporting at the Green Cape Light that all is well, another third across the Paddock (Bass Strait), and the last third is down to Tasman Light and up to Hobart.


This is the race from the perspective of the podium placers in the Sydney 38 Class.


Bruce Taylor – Chutzpah, Winner S38OD Division, One Ton Cup and third in IRC Div C and finishing 10th overall IRC. This was his 24th Sydney to Hobart race.


‘We are ecstatic to win the One Ton Cup Trophy. I missed winning the ¾ Ton Cup in ‘88 due to the mast breaking 200 metres from the finish, so this is a sweet win and in such good company.’


‘We were a little apprehensive from the start. Our theory is a good trip to Sydney from Melbourne equals a tough Hobart! They had a great trip to Sydney!’


‘We really enjoyed having boats around to race. Our most vivid memory from this race was the afternoon and first night with seven to eight 38’s all within a mile of each other and four in a line surfing south at 12-14 knots and keeping close contact to ensure top speed all the time. Awesome sight, looked fantastic.’


The planned tactics aboard Chutzpah, Team Lexus and Another Challenge was to place them on the coast when the southerly hit at about Eden.


When the main part of the storm hit, the mid-sized boats in the fleet, including the Sydney 38’s, were blasted with the toughest conditions of the race. Fifty knot winds, seas of more than 10 metres and for many boats, hail. Some boats came out of squalls with 50mm of hailstones in their cockpits.




Chutzpah went straight to storm sails and maintained height and boat-speed, as did the Melbourne University Team.


Team Lexus went to two reefs and a five and with eight Hobart races under his belt tactician,

Jan ‘Clogs’ Sholten admitted, ‘It was a mistake we should not have made. In the building seas, we had too much sail area, too much leeway and we fell back behind the two Victorian boats.’


Although their speed was good, the students went hard right into Bass Strait and lost ground, while Chutzpah was a little left of the rhumbline.


Skipper of the Hamilton Island Resort sponsored Another Challenge reported early in Bass Strait. Far from relaxed, the wet and cold 21 year old commented, ‘This is a resort, not!’


‘We sailed a lot with our storm sails in our dry run to Hobart only a few weeks earlier. We knew they would deliver good speed in strong conditions and we were comfortable.’


‘We were rotating our four helmsman and the balance of the crew was on the rail. Our preparation helped us a lot, we had 50 knots but we were always in good shape. The only problem was our wind instruments blew off, and we had to go back to dingy sailing - instrument free.’


‘We made a major tactical error in Bass Strait, we went well to the west expecting to come out on an extended shift that just did not happen.’


‘As a result we ended up pinned on the Tasmanian Coast and that was our race. We fell behind Chutzpah and lost our lead over Team Lexus.’


After a long and tough Bass Strait crossing, Chutzpah had to close on the Tasman coast too, after their electrics failed. Ahead of their rivals, they picked up the westerly shift and straight lined along the coast in flat water, making good distance on Lexus.

Lexus was in a eft hand shift well to sea-ward, didn’t have enough time to get back at them.


Taylor was full of praise for Rupert Henry and Clogs Scholten on Team Lexus and for the young crew from Melbourne University on Another Challenge.


‘We were disappointed but understanding of the many Sydney 38 withdrawals in a particularly gruelling race.’


‘The Chutzpah crew does not shine round the cans, but we have the whole ocean racing thing sorted.’



The 24 Hobart race veteran reserved his greatest praise for the Sydney 38 design itself.


‘They are well designed; sturdy and built like brick outhouses. No wonder they are so popular for chartering crew who want to race. They are not brilliant at any particular point of sail, but they are brilliant all rounder’s.’


Rupert Henry Team Lexus. Second S38OD and One Ton Cup, 4th in IRC C and 11th Overall.


The former 470 sailor Rupert Henry skippering Team Lexus returned with most of the crew from last year, for their second trip to Hobart.


Last year they broke a foil near Tasman Light and but for that, they would have been in overall podium contention. During the year they placed third in the Sydney-Mooloolaba and another third overall in the recent Gosford to Lord Howe Island Race.


‘The early part of this race was amazing, six and seven identical boats, going hard. We love the Sydney 38 One Design class racing and the fact that so many One Designs line up for a serious ocean race is just great.’


‘We don’t believe it happens anywhere else in the world.’


‘The last part of the race was tough. We were over canvassed (actually carbon-fibred) going into Bass Strait. We were hammered and laid down, then we got moving with our storm sails.’


‘Having then spent two days with storm sails, we realised we needed to have a set of racing cut storm sails for the Hobart, its that kind of race.’


‘Chutzpah deserved to win. We don’t mind being beaten by Bruce Taylor, he is such a good sailor.’


Chris Lewis, Another Challenge, Third S38OD and One Ton Cup, 5th in IRC and 21st Overall.


Not a single Hobart race between the entire crew, they are the youngest and least experienced in the 60th Hobart.


Lewis explains ‘We were ‘green as grass’, but our dry run to Hobart and back clearly helped us a lot. We lost comms and wind instruments and did not realise there had been so many retirements.

We were shocked to discover we were third in the fleet mid-way across Bass Strait.’


‘We are proud of our result, but we know we could have done better and we’d love to be able to have another try.’






At the Presentations in Hobart, Bruce Taylor was all smiles. ‘We were surprised and pleased that Lou Abrahams, (the 43 race veteran), whose Sydney 38 Challenge was forced into Eden with an irreparable mainsail damage flew done to Hobart, especially to greet the One Ton Cup Winner.’


‘And we both plan to be on the startline in 2005.’