RSHYR - fun in hindsight
by Jim Gale 28 Dec 2017 06:16 AEDT
InfoTrack on her way to Hobart © Rolex / Stefano Gattini
No-one else has ever done their first Rolex Sydney Hobart, their first proper ocean race really, on board their very own 100-foot super-maxi. And done it inside the record time set by that very same boat a year ago.
Christian Beck has done both now, riding InfoTrack into 4th place across the line, around an hour inside the record time set by what was then called Perpetual Loyal.
A complete novice to ocean racing, Beck looked relaxed, happy, and not a little relieved that he had made it to Hobart tonight. “It’s hard, very hard, but worth it in the end”, he said. “It wasn’t fun during the race, it was scary at times. A lot of stuff breaking. The scariest thing was the sail changes at night with big waves washing over the boat. It’s one of those things that are more fun thinking about it later than during the race.”
Prior to the race Beck famously described InfoTrack as a “shitbox”, and there were times over the past 2 days when he thought that, yep, that’s about right. “The jib fell down 10 minutes after we left the Heads. We hauled it out of the water, put it back up, and 20 minutes later it happened again. Railings were being ripped off. I thought the boat was falling apart. It has made it an expensive trip.”
He never dreamed that InfoTrack would get here so quickly, let alone ahead of Beau Geste and Wizard, the VO70 that won last years race as Giacomo. He puts the former down to the exceptional conditions, and the latter to a skilled crew that just drove the boat as hard as they could.
So, is Christian beck up for a 2nd Rolex Sydney Hobart next year? “I’ve been talking the boat down a bit lately so no-one will buy it. I’ll have to come back.”