Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: A long way to come for some Anger Management

Anger Management - Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race © CYCA Media

Tim Stewart has brought his Salona 44, Anger Management, all the way from Esperance in Western Australia to challenge the Tattersall Cup in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's annual Rolex Sydney Hobart.

That's 1800 nautical miles from port to port a long way for Anger Management. It was also a long flight for her crew. Stewart and his partner Priscilla have made the trip twice once when the boat arrived in Sydney on December 1 and now, for some final preparations with three crew members: Dylan Pinchin, Mark Quinlivan and Stuart McIntyre. The others are yet to arrive.

Stewart bought the former 'Zaney Waney' at Hamilton Island last year, from none other Christian Beck, the owner InfoTrack, one of the super maxis contesting the 628 nautical mile race for line honours.

"We bought the boat after Cyclone Debbie, so it was a bit of a mess. Christian's brother borrowed the boat after we bought it, and he and his mates cleaned it up a bit. And we raced it there."

Stewart, who calls himself "a major shareholder,' in the boat, said; "All but two of us have been sailing at the same club (Esperance Bay Yacht Club) for years. Three of us own our own boats there and race against each other. Some race with me. We've talked about the Sydney Hobart for years and always watched the start on TV and here we are."

Six out of 10 who sailed at Hamilton Island with Stewart are aboard for the Sydney Hobart. "We've never done the race before and the boat hasn't either. But I have two guys on board from Perth who have Geoff Bishop from UK Sails in Fremantle and Mark Wheeler who's our navigator."

The West Australian and his crew are realistic about their chances of winning. "Our primary goal is to finish the race and we'll be relying on our two gun Perth sailors to help us do that. But we saw a divisional list, and to challenge ourselves we'll gauge our performance against the three Beneteau 45's (Black Sheep from Tasmania, Dreki Sunnan from NSW and Audere from Victoria).

Many don't realise the challenge and cost of mounting a challenge from as far away as Western Australia.

"The cost of it has blown out," Stewart admits. "We looked at the cost in April and didn't think it will cost as much as it has. We just don't want to break anything now. And logistically it's hard we couldn't take that much time off work, so I got the boat delivered here."

Is it worth it? "We think so we'll tell you in Hobart," Stewart ends.

Anger Management is joined in the race by one other West Australian entry, the well-named Enterprise, the modified Farr 40 owned by Anthony Kirke (Star Trek fans will remember Captain Kirk and the Starship Enterprise) from Fremantle Sailing Club. Kirke has based his boat in Sydney for the season, racing in the CYCA's Blue Water Pointscore to prepare for the big race ahead.

The Boxing Day start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race will be broadcast live on the Seven Network via 7Mate throughout Australia. The race start will also be live streamed to a vast international audience via the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race website www.rolexsydneyhobart.com. Tencent, Fox Asia and ABC International will also pick up the feed and broadcast to their markets.