Sartorial elegance aboard Hugo Boss

by Hugo Boss/Peter Campbell on 27 Dec 2005 Ocean racing sailors tend to dress up these days, at least for the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Gone are the days of scruffy shorts and t-shirts. The crew of Wild Oats XI were resplendent yesterday in their signature colour red polo shirts and pressed white shorts, while stunning pink was the theme for the crew of Living Doll.

But the crew of the British yacht Hugo Boss really stole the sartorial scene down at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia before the start, boarding their boat in smart, dark business suits by the German fashion designer of that name.

For Australian solo round-the-world Nick Moloney, who flew in at the weekend to join skipper Alex Thomson and his crew, it was a chance to practice dressing up for his upcoming wedding. He was the last to take off his suit and change into his racing clobber as the boat sailed rather slowly down the Harbour in unsuitable conditions for the Open 60.

Hugo Boss this morning was lying seventh in the fleet, 71 nautical miles astern of race leader Wild Oats XI. The fresh to strong northerlies predicted today should give her fast sail towards Bass Strait, with skipper Thomson pleased with progress.

Highlight of the light sailing overnight appears to be Maloney’s story-telling skills, according to the following report from Hugo Boss to Sail-World this morning:

'After their first night onboard the crew are happy to be lying up with the top of the fleet, and once a lavish dinner of freeze-dried spaghetti bolognaise, washed down with a selection of Sydney’s finest mineral waters was over, the off-watchers tried to get their heads down.

‘I missed this!’ said skipper Alex Thomson who had had just one hour of sleep during the night. ‘The first night of any race is always the adrenal exciter and then things calm down a bit.’

'We had some good wind – 12 knots from the east – and were a couple of miles ahead of the Open 66 Coogans Stores when the wind dropped and changed to a 4 knot north-easterly. We currently have a northerly blowing 12 knots which is pushing us along at ten knots. Chris [Tibbs, meteorologist] says that the wind should slowly build during the day and then significantly thereafter.

'Hopefully we’ll get the conditions that we need to ramp her [Hugo Boss] up today, though it was satisfying to be cranking along faster than Konica Minolta at times in what are such light conditions for Hugo Boss!

'The guys are really up for it! We’ve got two four-man watches and operate a three[hour]-on three[hour]-off system. I think the most sleep anyone got last night was three hours in total, and that was little baby Scottie [Scott Gray, 23-year old Scottish rigger] though I don’t know how he did it with that heat: it’s like a furnace down below!'

Nick Moloney said that he is thoroughly enjoying himself onboard Hugo Boss; 'it’s brilliant! It’s very different from my Open60, Skandia. In the conditions we’ve had so far I feel that Hugo Boss is a bit faster. She’s a heavy boat and is maybe not quite so fine in the bow. It’s fascinating for me to see how another Open 60 sails.'

When asked how sailing with Nick Moloney was going, Alex laughed. 'We’ve been listening to his stories all night. He is one funny guy! I think we’re going to have problems shutting him up. It makes us wonder who, or rather what, he talks to when he’s sailing solo...'