2024 Sydney Hobart – Great viewing and chat with URM
by John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World AUS 26 Dec 2024 14:07 AEDT
26 December, 2024
LawConnect and (Andoo) Comanche at the start of the 2023 Hobart © Rolex | Kurt Arrigo
The tacking duel down Sydney Harbour was exciting. LawConnect went for bragging rights and got them, for first out the Heads. Comanche had to pinch to make the clear space she so desperately needs, and Celestial 70 was showing her intentions early by being third out, with URM right on her tail, and then Whisper followed. Caro was in there, despite handing away a lot of LOA, and then No Limit was in behind her.
It took 10 minutes for LawConnect to get out, with one masterful lead under her belt, but that was as good as it got. By the time they went to unfurl the bag it went to tears, and that lead first evaporated, then went to deficit just as smartly with Comanche showing clean heels to all and sundry, heading at about 180 degrees and making the best part of 24 knots with a very handy 2nm lead over her nemesis. y two and ahalf hours elapsed they had taken this out to 5nm.
At the 29-minute mark LawConnect got it furled back in, but it was around 33 minutes elapsed before it was out properly and they could begin the race again in earnest. URM exonerated herself with a 720 and powered off with Alive and Celestial just in front of them.
We chatted with URM Skipper (R/P 72), Marcus Ashley-Jones, about two hours after the start. “Unfortunately, Wild Thing 100 did not give us enough room to complete our tack and totally avoid Whisper, so we felt we went a little bit close to them. Being the strategic sailors we are, we don't like to leave anything up to chance, so we thought we'd rather just quickly get some turns done, just in case. You never know what happens in protest rooms, so we did some turns before we got to the sea mark and kept going. It only cost us 45 seconds, but cleans up any mess at the other end of the race and doesn't leave anything to chance in a protest room.”
“Even though we didn't think we were in the wrong, we just felt it was the proper play, so that's what we did. It could have actually been quite dangerous on the start line there, we just did everything we could to avoid any boats touching, it's a long race, you don't want to take any risks getting too close to other boats. We're happy we got through that incident without damaging anything and we got out the heads and cleaned up any anxiety."
Some footage with URM back underway showed them hammering down South, to which Ashley-Jones said, “We've made a lot of modifications to the boat to help with these heavy air running conditions. So the boat's performing really well, and this is the first time we've let loose with the A4 and the full set up in 25 knots of wind. It’s performing quite well, and we're really pleased.”
“We are sitting on 20 knots at the moment at 148 TWA with TWS 20 and 25 knots. So we're in good shape, and we're just having a sandwich on deck and about to bunker down and get the watch system rolled in. Then we'll be getting ready, as we're expecting 25 to 28 knots by about 4pm and then at sunset we'll definitely have a reef and we'll probably change down to spinnakers around 8 or 9pm to the A3. We should be sitting on high 20 speeds, ripping towards that Westerly change off Green Cape, which is where we'll intersect with it.”
As for the warmth ahead of the cool? “It's plenty warm now; everyone's trying to peel back out of the wet weather gear. Sorry about the engine revving in the background. (URM is hydraulically powered). It's easier than turning handles, I can guarantee that, and there’s plenty of trimming happening.”
“We actually brought on one extra spinnaker trimmer for this trip. I made the phone call yesterday to a guy named Matt Stenta. He's a skiff World Champion and 16-foot skiff Australian Champion. He's very talented and one of the most amazing skiff sailors in terms of feel for a boat. We put him on as our 21st person yesterday, and he's actually on the spinnaker trim right now and doing a great job,” said Ashley-Jones in closing.
Mistral leads the Double-Handers, as you might have come to expect, with Disko Trooper, Avalanche and Joker X2 all within spitting distance. By way of highlighting things, these craft are doing 8-10 knots and steering about 170 degrees.
So the next few hours are all about speed, as SOG and VMG. Giddy Up!!!
Probably six or so hours to make a lot of way before thinking about night duties and that change… Trim. Hold. Ease. Trim. Hold. Ease, and repeat, and repeat...
Please enjoy your yachting, stay safe, and thanks for tuning into Sail-World.com
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