Sydney Hobart race record goes to LDV Comanche
by Giles Pearman 28 Dec 2017 08:48 PST
26 December 2017
LDV Comanche wins the Rolex Sydney Hobart 2017 © Cruising Yacht Club of Australia
Sport is often determined by fine margins and yachting is no exception. After a phenomenal contest between Jim Cooney's LDV Comanche and the Oatley family's Wild Oats XI over the full 628nm of the Rolex Sydney Hobart concluded yesterday in the Derwent River, the line honours title for first to finish was eventually decided today in the protest room. An incident between the two 100-footers, shortly after the start, was adjudged in favour of LDV Comanche.
The initial provisional result was reversed to give Cooney a first line honours victory with his new boat in a record time of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds, bettering by 4 hours 15 minutes, 56 seconds the previous benchmark set in 2016. At the dockside prize giving, Cooney and his crew were rewarded for their success in the southern hemisphere's pre-eminent offshore race with the J.H. Illingworth Trophy and a Rolex timepiece, true acknowledgement of excellence, determination and endeavour.
In most sporting contests, there can only be one winner. In the battle to be first home in the 73rd Rolex Sydney Hobart, two highly-skilled, aggressively sailed yachts took the fight to each other from the very beginning to the very end. The result turned on a split-second decision taken as the yachts exited the Sydney Heads.
Undoubtedly, Cooney would have preferred to win the race on the water. All the same, he was in a celebratory mood as the enormity of his achievement sank in: "It was an exhilarating race. I loved every minute of it. The boat exceeded my expectations and who'd have thought we'd finish on the 27 December turning the Hobart into an overnighter!"
"The real race was on the water," Cooney continued. "The result is a fitting testament to the crew and the potential of the boat. The guys were fantastic. Stan Honey is not just a navigator, he is the navigator. Jimmy Spithill, too, is brilliant. Nothing escapes his attention anywhere on the water or around him."
Veteran navigator, Honey, on his sixth Rolex Sydney Hobart and previously a line honours winner in 2015, had this to say: "The conditions suited Comanche, but it's always a challenge in a 100-footer in that kind of wind to sail the boat in such a way that you don't break stuff. We had a lot of very good sailors paying very careful attention and my decisions were geared to giving us the fastest passage."
Kelvin Harrap, along with America's Cup star and former Rolex World Sailor of the year Spithill, provided the tactical acumen. Harrap reflected on the character of the race: "We struggled a little with the wave-length, and kept putting the nose in the water a lot more than previously. We had our biggest sail on in 35 knots, and things were starting to get a bit crazy. We had to back off at one stage because people were getting washed around the deck. It was then a huge test to go from blasting in 30 knots, to being patient and calm in three knots."
Following the light-wind start on 26 December, the 73rd Rolex Sydney Hobart went from a slow-burning fuse to a fully primed fire cracker overnight. The leading boats lit the afterburners in response to the building north easterly. Armed with a tailwind and initially subdued sea state, the entire fleet enjoyed the dream conditions.
As widely predicted, LDV Comanche relished the opportunity to show her prowess and had built a reasonable lead by the early hours of the second day. 20nm ahead of her nearest rival, she was nearly 50nm ahead of last year's race record pace. Astonishingly, several others were also bettering the 2016 progress.
The near perfect downwind conditions allowed the pacemakers to set a brutal tempo. The 30-knot nor'easter combined with 1.5 metre waves off the New South Wales coast at daybreak; less jarring than the 3m waves confronting the fleet as it edged into the eastern edge of Bass Strait later in the day.
Dismissing Black Jack and InfoTrack, the two other 100-foot Maxis, Wild Oats XI conducted a dogged pursuit of LDV Comanche; applying pressure and snipping away at the lead. By the late afternoon, the two frontrunners were virtually side by side. The race was compelling viewing.
The Derwent had long been predicted to be the critical point in the race. Whoever entered first would find any physical advantage threatened by the capricious nature of the river. Wild Oats XI and Comanche are polar opposites in hull form. One a wraith-like bullet; the other all power and muscle. According to Mark Richards, the skipper of Wild Oats XI: "The one thing you don't need in the Derwent is power."
The contrast between the fast planing conditions experienced earlier in the day and the near-windless finish could not have been greater. From a three-metre seaway, decks awash, constant trimming, crew and weight stacked far aft and on the high side to flat calm, weight forward and minimal movement.
The stress levels were the same. Pressing the accelerator hard for nearly 24 hours straight takes a toll on personnel and equipment. Keeping one's nerve, eking motion from zephyrs and choosing the right lane in the light is just as demanding. "Hugely stressful times," according to Richards, despite a combined total of 301 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Races within the Wild Oat's XI crew.
Navigator, Ian Burns, enjoyed the race despite the eventual result: "We had the most incredible weather window. Historically, this is usually a bash to windward in a southerly, a little bit of hard running and a bit of drifting. Every single race I've ever done has had those three things except this one. We were reaching and running with downwind sails the whole time."
In the end, the race to be first home on the water came down to a single manoeuvre judged to have been mistimed. Yet to remember the line honours contest for this reason would be an injustice. This was yacht-racing in its purest form. Man and machine against the elements in all their guises.
rolexsydneyhobart.com
So that's what V70s do by Jim Gale
When he stepped aboard his new V70 Wizard with his brother Peter just days before the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart, American David Askew had never stepped onto one of these legendary ocean warhorses before. Now he has seen just what they can do.
This was an ideal Hobart for these big, powerful cross wind and broad reaching boats, especially when the winds really picked up along the Tasmanian coast on Wednesday.
"Wizard did not disappoint," Askew says. "We had one minor incident when we destroyed the A3 spinnaker, but other than that, the boat performed flawlessly, and the crew performed flawlessly. It's a pleasure to be on a boat that can take anything you throw at her.
"You can push this type of boat a lot harder than any other boat I've sailed. But it taught me you have to decide how hard you want to push, because this is a risk/reward situation. These boats are so fast they sail into the trough in front, with all this sail trying to drive you deeper. You have to do your homework."
Wizard finished sixth across the line, behind the four super maxis and the 80-foot maxi Beau Geste, and two hours faster than when she was one of three to beat the race record and won the race last year as Giacomo. And she missed out by just 13 minutes on joining the flotilla of yachts that shattered Perpetual Loyal's 2016 race record. It has been that kind of race.
"I have never done an offshore race like this," says Askew. "This was so full on and physically taxing. Everyone had to work so hard and pay attention every minute. Going upwind is not very physical. You are in a mode and locked in.
"Going downwind is quite dynamic. You have to be aggressive at the wheel. It takes its toll. We were switching steerers every hour. You really couldn't take any more. Plus, you're getting fire-hosed constantly. You are underwater half the time. It's gruelling," he acknowledges.
"This is a fantastic race. One thing that blows me away is the enthusiasm of all the people, first at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney and now here in Hobart. People are truly interested in what sailing is about. In the States sailing is seen as the sport of the super-rich, and it is looked down upon. It's quite nice here to feel proud to be in this sport."
Wizard is off to the US soon, to do the Newport Bermuda, Caribbean 600, TransAtlantic and Fastnet races.
So will the brothers ever be back for another Hobart? "Why not? I always liked the idea of doing the Tahiti race from the West Coast, and that would get us half way here."
Mascalzone Latino finishes fifth overall in IRC by Mascalzone Latino
Mascalzone Latino's adventure in the 73rd edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart ended at 10.05 local time (00.05 in Italy) on December 28.
The 2017 edition saw a new record time with two of the four "giants" in a close fight for Line Honours: the Oatley family's Wild Oats XI and LDV Comanche owned by Jim Cooney and Samantha Grant, with on board the talented Australian champion James Spithill. LDV Comanche led for most of the 628 mile course, but making her way up the River Derwent to the finish in Hobart was forced to give up her lead and overall victory in real time to Wild Oats XI, in the past a nine times winner of this incredible and fascinating event. But the winner on the water was under protest for a suspect crossover between the two immediately after the start, when Wild Oats XI tacked too close to Comanche, forcing her to change course.
Today, shortly after 6 PM local time (8 AM in Italy) the Jury issued its verdict: a one-hour time penalty for Wild Oats XI for the infraction automatically put Line Honours in the 73rd edition of the race in the hands of LDV Comanche and awarded her the new record time of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds.
Mascalzone Latino, the Cookson 50 owned by Vincenzo Onorato, finished her Rolex Sydney Hobart in 11th place in real time, finishing the 628 mile course in one day, 21 hours, five minutes and 32 seconds. In the overall IRC ranking the Italian team was fifth; in the IRC Division "0" was ranked second and in ORCi overall came third. Overall victory in the IRC went deservedly to a 52 footer, very similar to an IRC 52, designed by Marcelino Botin, Matt Allen's Ichi Ban.
The performance of Mascalzone Latino, a leading player of the 2017 blue water sailing season with victory in the ORC Worlds in Trieste in July and in the Volvo Hong Kong Vietnam at the end of October, was definitely positive. Vincenzo Onorato, who was not present for family reasons, put together a team of champions with great experience who showed, even in the most complex situations, they could handle the pressure and stay focused on their objective.
Racing on Mascalzone Latino, which also on this occasion sailed under the colours of the Yacht Club Monaco, were: Skipper Matteo Savelli, Adrian Stead, Lorenzo Bressani and Flavio Favini in the afterguard, Ian Moore as navigator, main trimmer Leonardo Chiarugi, trimmers Stefano Ciampalini, Gaetano Figlia di Granara and Timothy Burnell, with Justin Clougher and Alberto Fantini in the bow.
There was vital support from the shore team, which had spent a month working non-stop to get the boat ready after the Asian regatta last October and deliver her to the crew in perfect condition. On the team were Daniele Fiaschi, Murray Spence and Davide Scarpa. The sails programme was assisted as ever by Marco Savelli.
"I'm really proud of the guys' performance," said owner Vincenzo Onorato in a night-time telephone call from Italy right after the finish. "I followed closely all the various phases of the race and received some wonderful photographs that underlined my regret at not being able to take part in what is probably the most famous blue water race in the world. But I am proud of what my crew managed to do. I've no doubt that they gave 1000%, they are a fantastic generation of sailors. Apart from this, races are like that: sometimes it goes well and sometimes less well, but complaining about an overall fifth place that some crews have been chasing for decades without succeeding, would not be very objective. However Mascalzone Latino's participation in the Rolex Sydney Hobart is not something I see as sporadic."
"You could say we didn't have a good first part of the race, we didn't sail well; the first day was not one of the easiest," was Matteo Savelli's first comment on his arrival at the quayside in Hobart. "But the second day and tonight we pushed really hard: it wasn't easy to find the best course for Hobart. Anyway it was a fantastic race, with an exceptional crew that reacted fast to things as they happened. Our crew is a special mix: we have fantastic professionals like Adrian Stead, Ian Moore and Jaggy Clougher (born in Hobart), but most of us are Italian and, starting from Lorenzo Bressani, Flavio Favini and Alberto Fantini, to name just some, it really was the pick of Italian yachtsmen. For our part we haven't often met these conditions in the Mediterranean, but to tell the truth two months ago, in the Volvo Hong Kong to Vietnam (which we one) we had 25-30 kn of wind behind us: not quite as strong as here in Australia, but still something you have fun with. Sailing downwind in these conditions was very exciting and surprising: we really didn't expect it before we came to Australia. We had expected to spend a lot of time sailing upwind, but in this way we can remember some great days of sailing. Ichi Ban, after several attempts and by now with a perfect knowledge of the course, scored a well-deserved overall victory in IRC. Unfortunately we allowed our rivals to gain too much advantage in the first part."
"We bought the Cookson 50 in 2014," says Savelli, "when Vincenzo Onorato decided to start a program of leading offshore races. We took part in three additions of the Rolex Middle Sea Race, coming second once by just seven seconds in in 2015, and once overall winners in IRC in 2016. After the ORC Worlds in Trieste last summer we also won the Volvo Hong Kong to Vietnam, our last race before this one. I can say that this is not just a one-off appearance for a Mascalzone Latino boat in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race. The 2018 season programme for Vincenzo Onorato and Mascalzone Latino will now concentrate on the Melges 32 and J/70 classes".
"It was the first time for Mascalzone Latino in the Rolex Sydney Hobart and I'm proud to have been able to race with this crew," says Adrian Stead, Mascalzone Latino afterguard. "In the first 10 or 12 hours we weren't fast enough to have hopes of winning, in fact we were left behind by the other 52 footers. But in the second part of the race we pushed very hard. When you come to the Sydney Hobart Race you know the conditions can be different every year; then there are teams like Ichi Ban whose owner has taken part in 28 additions of this race and finally won this year. They won thanks to good preparation, and all-round boat and whether that was ideal for them. Actually the conditions were good for us to: we made a lot of right decisions and I think we could have arrived 45 or 50 minutes behind the winner. It was a pleasure sailing on this boat. Probably we would need to train harder to do better. If we started getting ready for the race tomorrow, we would do things differently: we would get the boat ready in a different way and have some different sails. But we fought hard from start to finish, it's a pity we lost first place in the IRC Division 0 by 13 minutes to the Volvo 70, but looking at the results now, with a fifth place in IRC overall, we can be pretty satisfied and proud of what we've done. All the crew worked hard, doing a fantastic job from start to finish."
"I must admit we hope to do better, but we knew there was a lot of well-prepared and tough competition," says Lorenzo Bressani, afterguard of Mascalzone Latino. "The conditions were incredible but at the same time very difficult, especially during the second night. To keep the boat going always at 100%, Adrian, Flavio and myself, the three designated helmsman, had trouble completing a watch of two hours at the helm; often we only lasted an hour and a half. We just didn't want to take our foot off the accelerator and push as hard as we could, because we realised after the first 20 hours we were not in a good position, perhaps because the foresails were not quite right, and we wanted to go back to Italy with the best result we could. The second night we sailed with full main and A4 gennaker, closing on Ichi Ben by an hour in real-time. After the finish, to give you an idea how tough the conditions were, we discovered that the winner that night had sailed with two reefs and a genoa staysail. A fifth place overall and second place in IRC Division "0", when you consider that some owners and sailors have taken part in dozens of additions before winning, are great results, but I'm competitive and had hoped to do better. Vincenzo [Onorato] fielded a great team, a compact and united crew that didn't give an inch from start to finish. Maybe we'll get another chance, who knows. The organisation and the success of this race in terms of the quality of the competitors, with tens of thousands of spectators on the water and on dry land following the start in Sydney and then welcoming the teams in Hobart, the media coverage we got was comparable to that of our home race, the Barcolana".
