Sydney Hobart - Red Snakes and chips power Tow Truck

by Rob Kothe - Sail-World.com on 27 Dec 2009
The Tow Truck crew from Newcastle have sailed their hot house green Mumm 30 with distinction in years gone by. Amongst her achievements were wins in the 2003 and the 2005 Sydney Mooloolaba races, as well as outings in the Transpac and the Sydney Hobart race.

In 2008 the 'Truckers' moved up to a bigger boat. And with the Jason Ker designed Ker 11.3, with the same owner (Anthony Paterson) and crew and with the same colour green paint, the Tow Truck was back. She won her Sydney Hobart division last year.

26 hours into the 2009 Rolex Sydney to Hobart, the crew on the Newcastle flyer ate their first real meal.

When we talked to Tow Truck, the Ker 37 was just 100 metres behind Bruce Taylor’s Chutzpah and 500 metres up ahead on the same line was Ed Psaltis and Bob Thomas' modified Farr 40 AFR Midnight Rambler.

Navigator/Tactician Brett Philby reported ‘Not even our conditions. Last night it was mostly about 15 knots hard on the breeze all night. We finally tacked back into the shore about 3am as the breeze started to go further left a little. We think the boats that stayed out have lost a bit to us.

‘We’ve had no time for hot meals. We have had nothing but chips and snakes until today. We are about to eat our first meal for the race .... I guess it's brunch but around 4pm.

‘Just after dawn the wind began to drop to six-seven knots and it has been about the same since, a little fluky but mostly steady. We are sailing in smooth seas, with about six knots of breeze from the south east.

‘The fleet is compressing. Looks like we have caught a lot of boats. We have been slowly catching Chutzpah for the last few hours so its been interesting for us. We had a close run out the Heads (with her) to mark X, so its great to be staying with her.

‘It seems we have TP52’s around us; Cougar II just ahead and Quest behind us. That's pretty sweet, but it’s a long way from over' concluded Philby.

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

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

‘You know I can only afford a small boat ... but they often do return some joy.

'We’ve been pushing hard; our priority has been to stay with Ed, that’s all we care about …. but this afternoon, we realised we were a bit hungry and our priority shifted to a full on chicken and rice curry!’