J/133 PATRIOT "Loves" Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race

When Finishing Just Makes You A Winner!
(Hobart, Tasmania)- This year's 66-year Hobart Race was one of the more "classic" editions in recent years because of the heavy weather and rough seas that boats and their crews encountered - a hallmark of this well-known 628 nautical mile ocean race.

The race started December 26th with a 'Southerly buster' during the first night, with the fleet of 87 starters encountering winds that reached 40 to 50 knots. Those gale-force winds and the resulting ginormous seas took their toll and saw a steady stream of boats retire due to steering damage, torn sails and engine problems, and for one unlucky yacht, a dismasting. After two days, 18 boats were forced out of the race, retiring because of the adverse weather conditions and resulting damage to boat and equipment.

Following that, boats and crew had to contend with getting across the notorious 100 nautical mile wide Bass Strait. By the race end, winds lightened somewhat and boats at the back of the fleet had trouble getting enough wind to get up the ten-mile stretch of Derwent River to the finish line in Hobart.

As one sailor said with a twinkle in his eye, "The fourth day was the most fantastic day on the water we've ever spent. The wind was perfect. The weather was perfect and in that night every star in the sky was out. It was spectacularly beautiful."

Enjoying the best and the worst amongst the fleet was Tony Love's J/133 PATRIOT.  They were 29th boat to finish of 89 starters, were 2nd IRC 3 Class by just 45 minutes.  Their River Derwent dash was slow going with light headwinds in the early stages while boats behind and offshore were sailing in surfing conditions.  PATRIOT was winning IRC Class 3 on corrected until just 10 miles before hitting Cape Pillar and the famous Cathedral Rock formation.  Many a Sydney-Hobart Race has been won or lost on both line honors and handicap honors due to the capricious weather experienced sailing north up the River Derwent from Storm Bay...where winds often go 360 degrees every hour.  It's a spectacular backdrop of high cliffs, 4,500 foot high mountains to the small, picturesque towns along the eastern and western shores.

For starters, getting 2nd in IRC Class 3 in the grueling 2010 Sydney-Hobart 628 nm race is only telling a part of the story.  Tony Love and crew's adventure started when they first bought their J/133 PATRIOT from its American Midwest freshwater owners.  They got it delivered to Sydney on a ship, trucked it north and prepared it for this year's race in their home port of Brisbane- only 600 nm north of Sydney!

After a few weeks, it was clear that Tony and crew had gotten a handle on sailing PATRIOT.  Sailing out of their home club, the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Tony's team had been achieving outstanding race results.  The latest series running over 12 races saw Tony finishing first on IRC, with individual race results of 5 1sts, 3 2nds, a 3rd, 4th and 5th.  Not bad since he has only owned the J/133 for less than a season.  Tony has commented that he loves the fact that he is able to comfortably cruise the J/133 after the racing crew has jumped off.  Testament to this is that following on from the grueling 628nm Sydney-Hobart race, Tony and his family will be sailing from Hobart to cruise the spectacular Freycinet Peninsula on Tasmania’s east coast, enjoying its pure white beaches and turquoise seas, the spectacular Wine Glass Bay and Bay of Fires, one of "Lonely Planet's" Top 10 regions in the world.

Now, back to the race and what happened this year and the fascination of "just doing it."  The start was spectacular with 87 yachts taking part with a close reach out of Sydney Heads.  Crews settled in for the night knowing there was a southerly buster heading up the coast to meet them, and hit them it did-- big time!  Some yachts reported 45-50 knot gusts, and the seas built to 4-5 metres.  The southerly winds hammered the crews, ultimately causing 18 yachts to retire.  The J/133 PATRIOT, virtually "fresh-out-of-the-box" forged her way through the rough conditions until the southerly abated.  At that point, the "jumping off" point is just southeast of the Australian seaside town of Eden--- appropriately named for many a Hobart crew seeking shelter or safety after getting "busted" in the Straits.  At the time, PATRIOT was easily leading their IRC 3 Class and were in contention for top 5 IRC honors.

As one competitor noted, "The real action didn't commence until 24 hours into the race. A trough following the front produced winds of 35 knots plus on the coast and up to 50 knots in Bass Strait. These were the "classic" Hobart conditions everyone was expecting. Wet, cold and yet brilliant sunshine, the kind of thing sailing photogs love. Airborne maxis, underwater IOR boats and cruiser racers with two reefs and a storm jib slugging away; still doing hull speed. Contrary to popular belief, this is also perfect cruiser/racer weather. As the big boats slow to conserve, the little boats get bullied by the large and erratic seaway, and we keep plugging away under reduced sail with very little stress on the boat and crew. In these conditions we can exceed our polars and over the next 12 hours we steal a march on our direct competition."

Rolex photographer Carlo Borlenghi flew over the fleet at lunchtime on Monday and reported seeing yachts with triple-reefed mains, some with storm headsails or racing bare-headed (no sails). He said that in a decade of covering the race he’d never seen seas like those before.  The forecast gale-force conditions made good on Monday for the bulk of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet with yachts experiencing 40-50 knots of gale to storm-force winds from the west-southwest -- together with massive seas.  The strength of Monday afternoon's gale, though, was a sobering experience for every sailor.  Adrienne Cahalan, the navigator aboard Wild Oats XI has described the afternoons gale as the worst crossing of Bass Strait she has experienced.  She described the conditions as "violent and awful"-- a big call from a professional sailor who has competed in every major ocean race in the world.  Seamanship was the name of the game.

By Tuesday, the fleet was experiencing much gentler conditions, with the winds swinging clockwise from the south-west to the west at 10 knots by about midday before the wind is due to turn north-easterly Tuesday afternoon, building to 20 knots during the day and up to 30 knots Tuesday night.  They are ideal conditions to bring the remainder of the fleet down the Tasmanian coast.  While the race to the corner of Tasman Island and the Hornpipes formation is the focus of all race navigators, "Tasman Island to the finish is in the hands of the gods," said one navigator.

PATRIOT consistently took a middle road relative to the fleet in the first part of the race.  Beating up the Australian coast, not going too far offshore and not heading too far inshore.  As they reached Cape Howe, the southeastern tip of Australia and headed over towards Tasmania on starboard tack, PATRIOT broke off earlier than most competitors, staying further east of rhumbline in anticipation of a wind shift backing from S/SW to W/NW-- it was initially a good move.  By Tuesday, PATRIOT was sailing on starboard gybe downwind with the big asymmetric spinnaker and staysail up surfing downwind about 60 miles offshore of Taz, headed at 9-13 knots surfing downwind towards the  famous "Hornpipes", the final turning point to the finish line in Hobart up the River Derwent.  However by late Tuesday and early Wednesday, PATRIOT's fortunes were about to change.  A park-up for 3+ hours prior to Tasman Island turned the tables fast as the breeze filled in from the nor’west for the remainder of the trip leaving them with a 10-20 knot beat to the finish.  Then, a final park up a few miles from the line only added to their frustration.  However, for their first Hobart on a J/133, a near miss on the class win and a podium finish is both gratifying and commendable.  Here's the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race sailing website.

No matter how good or bad the sailing is across the infamous Bass Straits or down the eastern side of Tasmania, its the combination of the challenge at sea sailing down the coast, the spectacular scenery and perhaps the "calling" of ancestors (all 75,000 convicts) that called Port Arthur home is what brings everyone back year after year.  As the fleet approaches Storm Bay from the East, they're first greeted by the guiding light emanating from Tasman Island Lighthouse-- it sits atop 220 meter high vertical sea-cliffs surrounded by spectacular, if not breath-taking rock formations each with a unique name- Cathedral Rock, Cape Pillar, The Blade and The Chasm-- all within Tasman National Park.  Carved out of Jurassic dolerite by the great Southern Ocean and separated from the Tasman Peninsula by a 1200 mtr wide chasm the island's lighthouse adds the finishing touch to a stunning feature of the Tasmanian coastline. After the light, the boats then round "The Monkeys" off the SE tip of Tasman Island.  Then, past "The Organ Pipes" on Cape Raoul, both spectacular rock formations.  After passing these two capes, the fleet then sails north across Storm Bay towards the Iron Pot, a large rock pile that forms part of the course at the mouth of the Derwent River, just 11 miles from the finishing line in Hobart. Off in the distance forming the southerly ridge line west of the river is majestic Mt. Wellington, a 4,500 foot high mountain surrounded by forest.  For the aesthetics who appreciate such geologic beauty, it's hard to beat.    Tasman Island Lighthouse.    Coastview of Tasmania by virtualtasmania.com.   Westpoint Hobart Webcam with view of harbor and Mt Wellington.

As for human interest, Taz cultural history is unusual.  First inhabited by the Taz Aborigines at least 35,000 years ago, they were isolated as rising sea levels cut Tasmania off from mainland Australia about 10,000 years ago.

The first reported sighting of Tasmania by a European was on 24 November 1642, by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. Tasman landed at today's Blackman's Bay. Famously, Captain James Cook landed at Adventure Bay in 1777 – with young William Bligh aboard. William Bligh returned in 1788 (H.M.S. Bounty) and again in 1792 (H.M.S Providence, with young Matthew Flinders aboard. Numerous other Europeans made landfalls, adding a colorful array to the names of topographical features. Matthew Flinders and George Bass (who named the Bass Strait) first proved Tasmania to be an island in 1798–99.

The first European settlements were by the British at Risdon Cove on the eastern bank of the Derwent estuary in 1803. An alternative settlement was established in 1804 in Sullivans Cove on the western side of the Derwent, where fresh water was more plentiful. The latter settlement became Hobart, after the British Colonial Secretary of the time, Lord Hobart.

The early settlers were mostly convicts and their military guards, with the task of developing agriculture and other industries. Numerous other convict-based settlements were made in Van Diemen's Land (aka Tasmania), including secondary prisons, such as the particularly harsh penal colonies at Port Arthur in the southeast and Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast. In the fifty years from 1803 to 1853 around 75,000 convicts were transported to Tasmania. The Colony of Tasmania was a British colony that existed on the island of Tasmania from 1856 until 1901, when it federated together with the five other Australian colonies, each with their own Parliaments, to form the Commonwealth of Australia.

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