Rolex Sydney Hobart- Will the Tow Truck fly again?

by Rob Kothe on 26 Dec 2008
The Tow Truck guys from Newcastle sailed their hot house green Mumm 30 Tow Truck with distinction in years gone by. Amongst her achievements were wins in the 2003 and the 2005 Sydney Mooloolaba, as well as outings in the Transpac and the Sydney Hobart race.

The old Tow Truck was a top performer in down wind conditions. These conditions are forecast for the 2008 Rolex Sydney Hobart race and the crew are ready to do it all again ... albeit on a different boat.

Navigator Tactician Brett Filby provides an update. ‘The reality is that the Mumm 30 was built for sailing in warm inshore conditions, but we pushed the envelope. We sailed her in the 2,200 nautical mile Transpac from Los Angles to Hawaii.

‘We thought if we can take a Mumm 30 to Hawaii then we can take it to Hobart, given the right conditions, so we set out to do that.

‘As a team we all enjoyed the 2005 Hobart but realised before, during and after the race, that Tow Truck was too small to be competitive.

‘Luckily in 2005 we had conditions that were quite OK. We never really got a fresh southerly or sou’ Easter, which we were always dreading. We got a sou’ wester and we were OK to get the boat and us to Hobart in one piece.

'Now in 2008 we moved up to a bigger boat. The Hobart forecast is for another downwind flier. And so with our Jason Ker designed Ker 11.3, with the same owner (Anthony Paterson) and crew and with the same green paint, the Tow Truck is back!'

Owner Anthony Paterson continues. 'Because we enjoyed sailing the Mumm 30 with its lively performance so much, we wanted to find a boat that was similar in style.

'The Ker 11.3 is a UK built one design. It’s a down wind flier. Previously the boat was campaigned as Voodoo Doll out of the Jersey Islands. It’s supposed to be a rocket ship down hill. Hopefully we will get some of those hard running conditions because the boat likes it and the crew are very good at driving in such conditions.’

When the boat arrived in September, Paterson’s business background came to the fore. Paterson, who is in the smash repair business, stripped the boat bare and sprayed it the team’s favourite colour – hot house green. The boat was completely re-wired. Everything was in good order but the team wanted to double check and make sure things were right; they wanted to understand the mechanics of the boat.

But the crew have had very little time to sail her, as Filby explains. ‘Since we put her back in the water we’ve only done one race, which has been the Hobart qualifying race to Cabbage Tree Island and back. It was a ‘work’ all the way to Cabbage Tree and then we turned around and so did the breeze, we ‘worked’ all the way home. It was a good opportunity to try some headsails on the boat, but we haven’t really had a chance to try all our chutes out properly down wind, in anything above 15 knots of breeze.

'Apparently over 20 knots of breeze is very exciting with a spinnaker, so hopefully we’ll get conditions like that in the Hobart race.

‘We only have masthead kites; no bowsprit, a 37 foot boat is not fast enough to really accelerate around the bowsprit. The ability to be able to pull the pole right back and run a lot squarer is very valuable. For the Hobart race we are hoping there’s plenty of square running or deep running.

‘Our IRC handicap is 1.148; we are half way between a Sydney 38 and a Farr 40, which I think, is where we are with speed as well.'

Patterson continues. ‘The old crew is back … beyond Brett and me, there is Paul Williams and he’s been with us since we got the first boat. Paul is the only Sydney sailor. Richard Howard and his younger brother Will have sailed a lot with us and they are all from Newcastle. Also on our crew is Troy Polson, (he came second last year on Ragamuffin so he’s hoping to do one better this year) and Garry van Dijk, another Newcastle regular.’

Says Filby, ‘If we get the weather conditions that are being forecast I believe the boat is capable of a good result. She rates quite high for a 37 footer. If we do get some hard blast reaching conditions and running, I believe we can push the boat to be around the 50 footers.

‘Looking back to the two Mooloolaba wins, in each case the boat sailed like a 50 footer. It was just a fluke of the conditions both times that allowed us to be there … it was quite fresh and then quite light, so we could hold with the bigger boats when it was fresh and then not lose too much pace them when it was light, because the boat itself was quite light.

‘Anything under ten knots we were be able to keep pace with the bigger boats and anything over 25 knots we almost did as well - down wind, of course.

‘So we are hoping for the same situation in this 2008 Hobart race’ Filby concludes.

Paterson continues on, ‘Our goal is to finish in front of Ed Psaltis and Bob Thomas’ Farr 40 AFR, Midnight Rambler. They are very good sailors, have a very good team and very good boat.

‘To get a divisional win would be a great achievement and if the Storm Bay/Derwent weather suits … it would be great.

‘Hopefully the weather gods will smile on us. We do have a good boat, a good team and all we need is some good luck.

‘Our boat’s colour is opalescent, dark green but it changes colour in the light. So if the sun is shining on it its sparkles. We are looking to see a nice 25-30 knot North Easterly wind and plenty of sparkles!'

The skipper and crew are looking forward to the challenges of this year’s race and clearly relish the possibility of some fast downwind flying.

Watch out for the distinctive green of Tow Truck on today's 1.00pm Sydney Hobart start line!