Helsal III Reaches Triabunna After Retiring from Rolex Sydney Hobart

by Bruce Montgomery/Rolex Sydney Hobart media team on 29 Dec 2008
The Tasmanian retiree in this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Helsal III, has reached Triabunna despite a damaged rudder and will not resume racing.

Skipper Rob Fisher told the Rolex Sydney Hobart Media team this afternoon that he had taken the prudent course to withdraw from the race after problems with the rudder compounded after the first night.

'We dropped a spinnaker in order to reduce sail. It went in the drink and wrapped itself around the rudder,' Fisher said.

'One of the crew, John Davis, went over the side to cut the spinnaker free, but there was obviously some damage to the rudder mounting.

'As the race progressed, the top plate housing the rudder post began to move by four and five inches. We got to 50 miles east of Bicheno and I thought the prudent course was to retire.'

Part of the cost will be a bottle of Bollinger champagne for his sister, Sally Smith, who is skippering the family’s other boat Helsal IV. That was the bet for the first of them to finish.

'She rang me: first to make sure we were OK. Then to ask ‘where’s my bottle?’ ' Fisher said.

It is the first time in the Rolex Sydney Hobart’s 63-year history that boats have been skippered by a brother and sister.

Rob and Sally’s father, Dr Tony Fisher, originally owned Helsal III, a 20 metre pocket maxi, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He chose to sail this race with his son, not his daughter.