sydney to hobart yacht race retirements

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‘Devastated’: Man overboard, more boats out of Sydney to Hobart

A total of nine vessels have been forced to retire from the Sydney to Hobart with one skipper revealing a “devastating” update.

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Nine casulties have now struck the Sydney to Hobart fleet.

It was announced on Wednesday morning two more yachts had been forced to retire as the fleet made its way along the NSW south coast.

Scallywag was the first big casualty of the race after the Hong Kong-based sailing team’s bow sprit — which carries the yachts biggest sails — broke just hours into the race.

Scallywag had been the early leader and was in a fight with Andoo Comanche and LawConnect before it was forced to abandon its campaign.

Two more vessels were forced to retire in the early hours of Wednesday morning with Sticky and Maritimo 52 pulling out.

Sticky was forced to pull out with electrical damage, while Maritimo 52 had damage to rigging.

Small yacht Rum Rebellion was hit by a burst of water between Cronulla and Wollongong sending the boat on its side.

Shane Connelly was taken overboard and was a few metres from the boat but was able to swim back to it.

“We are both well and the main thing is our systems and drills all worked well,’’ he told News Corp.

As first reported by News Corp , Arcadia on Tuesday returned to Sydney with a torn mainsail and Rum Rebellion also turned back due to an unspecified reason.

Reigning champions Andoo Comanche and LawConnect are continuing to battle for line honours as they head towards Bass Straight.

Tuesday’s retirement was a gut-punch for the Scallywag crew which had already declared the 2023 Sydney to Hobart would be its last.

News Corp reported skipper David Witt and his crew were “devastated”. The vessel has returned safely back to Sydney.

The team earlier confirmed their sad news via its social media channels.

SHK Scallywag 100 has retired from the 2023 Sydney Hobart with a broken bow sprit. The team are obviously very disappointed given the great progress we were making but thankful no one was injured & that we could safely recover. The team are making their way back to Sydney. pic.twitter.com/fuFApS3DvT — Sun Hung Kai Scallywag (@scallywaghk) December 26, 2023

The five retirements mean there are 98 entries remaining of the 103-yacht fleet that sell sail from Sydney.

Scallywag was also involved in early drama when rival Andoo Comanche flew a protest flag alleging SHK Scallywag had tacked too close as the pair exited Sydney Harbour.

Scallywag subsequently performed a 720 penalty turn to exonerate the vessel from facing a potential disqualification.

The race tracks the eastern coast of Australia southward from Sydney, crossing the Bass Strait, before continuing along the eastern coast of Tasmania and finally reaching Hobart.

Widely considered one of the most challenging yacht races in the world, teams competing in this year’s event — the 78th edition — also risk facing thunderstorms, hail and gale-force winds through the race.

The Bureau of Meteorology, whose representatives briefed the competitors ahead of the race, said there was a high degree of uncertainty for the forecasts over coming days.

With the Bass Strait crossing often the hardest part of the race, teams can expect a larger southwest swell and strong winds.

“This year there is easterly winds and easterly swell forecast, as well as thunderstorms, which will make conditions challenging on Tuesday and Wednesday. These conditions are forecast to ease from later Wednesday,” the bureau said.

Some 113 vessels will be competing in this year’s event.

The record for the race was set in 2017 by LDV Comanche, a 100ft maxi yacht, which completed the event in just over 33 hours.

RETIREMENTS IN THE 2023 SYDNEY TO HOBART

Arcadia – Retired – mainsail damage

Currawong (TH) – Retired – electrical issues

Maritimo 52 – Retired – rigging damage

Pacman (TH) – Retired – runner damage

Rum Rebellion (TH) – Retired – minor injury

SHK Scallywag – Retired – broken bowsprit

Sticky – Retired – electrical damage

Georgia Express – rigging issues

Millennium Falcon - Retired - crew illness

Tumbleweed (TH) - Retired - crew illness

Luna Blue - Retired - damaged equipment

Patty Mills has silenced his critics with an extraordinary performance just days before the Boomers’ Olympics campaign begins.

The Australian swimming team has been dragged into a storm after an act in Paris that has rubbed some the wrong way.

The Boomers have piled pressure on the might of the USA in a performance that also raised red flags before the Paris Olympics.

Duel in the dark as three-boat race for Sydney to Hobart win looms on Weds morning

There’s a tight tussle for line honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race as Black Jack, LawConnect and SHK Scallywag headed toward a possible “neck and neck” finish on the River Derwent.

Across Tuesday SHK Scallywag had closed the gap in third place as further retirements cut the original fleet of 88 yachts to 52, with harsh conditions forcing withdrawals due to damage or minor crew injuries - most coming on the first day.

The three super maxis were vying for the top spot heading down Tasmania’s east coast with the possibility of the duel continuing right up to Hobart.

On Tuesday morning, Black Jack had regained a six nautical mile lead on LawConnect.

“They are neck and neck at the moment,” Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Commodore Noel Cornish told media in Hobart.

Light winds for most of Tuesday then saw the leaders slow down, often being within sight of each other. Some of the race stragglers may not finish until January 4.

A Wednesday morning finish, likely before sunset, was expected.

“We are looking forward to a good day, and to where we will end up this afternoon and evening,” said Black Jack navigator Alex Nolan.

“Everyone is very well on board. Everyone is very happy. We are pushing it very hard.” Weather is critical in the 628-nautical-mile (1,200-km) race down Australia’s east coast to Hobart, one of the world’s most challenging ocean events.

Six men died, five boats sank, and 55 sailors were rescued during the 1998 event when a deep depression exploded over the fleet in the Bass Strait.

But this year, organisers also faced the trials of a global pandemic, which already nixed last year’s edition -- cancelling the event for the first time since it began in 1945.

Before the start, four yachts were forced to retire, leaving 88 entrants at the starting line, including 17 two-handed crafts, which are allowed to take part for the first time.

It was a sharp reduction from the 157 boats that set out in 2019. Though the first yacht to reach the finishing line grabs most public attention, the main prize for sailors is regarded as the handicap honours, which take account of the size of the yachts.

RETIREMENTS (As of 7.30pm, December 27)

Alive - hull damage

Ariel - Mainsail damage

Blink - torn main sail

Chancellor - sail damage

Crystal Cutter - mainsail damage

Denali - damage to hull

Enchantress - broken forestay

Extasea - engine issues

Gweilo - Forestay damage

Huntress - mainsail damage

Kialoa II - rig damage

King Billy - rigging damage

Mako - damaged mainsail

Mille Sabords - torn mainsail

Minerva - mainsail damage

Moneypenny - broken headstay

Nautical Circle - rigging issues

No Limit - heading to Sydney

Oskana - broken forestay

Oz Design Patrice Six - engine issues

Philosopher - heading to Sydney

TSA Management - mainsail damage

URM - damaged mainsail

Wax Lyrical - equipment damage

White Noise - window damage

Zara - uknown.

Zen - injured crew

Eora - broken backstay

Hip-Nautic - damaged mainsail

Inukshuk - autopilot issues

Kayimai - engine issues

Hells Bells - engine issues

Maverick - rudder damage

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Sydney to Hobart retirements.

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Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2022

They ride the performance edge of catastrophe. Same as all sport now. You have to throw the ball fast enough that it strains your back. 😂 Mark  

MarkofSeaLife said: They ride the performance edge of catastrophe. Same as all sport now. You have to throw the ball fast enough that it strains your back. 😂 Mark Click to expand...

Well if it doesn’t break. Then it was made a smidge to strong.  

3 rudder failures out of 103 boats. Consider that for hundreds of miles they were power reaching in 20 -30 knots. Lateral loads on the rudder must be unbelievable. On power reaches highly ballasted boats have extremely high loads and an occasional higher shock load as they fall off waves. I’m surprised there aren’t more rudder failures.  

It's only a 635 nm passage. On my passages I usually calculate it on "multiples of Sydney-Hobarts". My most recent passage was 5 Sydney-Hobarts. I have had a few at 5+. I consider a passage nearly finished when it's less than 1 Sydney-Hobart. In fact I never calculate distance to go, of miles done till I am under 635nms. Before that I'm just "at sea". I sure don't say I've done 1,000 miles, I have 2000 mike's to go and mid-way will be next Wednesday. That's just BS. 😊 My point in multiples of Sydney Hobarts is I realise that a passage cruising you just can't break anything. Nothing. You can't bust a rudder 3% of every 635nms of a 3,200nm passage. You just can't break it. And if you do you have to save your own bacon. Because it's likely not going to be an easy insurance claim if u abandon a boat at sea that's still viable. But mostly I'm not covered at sea. You can't just "Retire" 😂😂😂 There's no Eden to pull into and hit the pub! I'm not saying these Sydney Hobart sailors are Nancy-Boys. I'm not. It's the toughest race in the world for normal boats. But the way it's done is unsustainable for a cruiser IMHO. I know many people who have done 30 or 40 Sydney-Hobarts but have never crossed an ocean (or done that same number of Mackinac races but never been to sea). I look at my little old boat and compare it to their slick sleds with sails worth the same as my whole boat doing 635nms in 2.5 days. They're amazing. But so is my boat 😍 it might take me 3 times as long but I guarantee you I'd get there with a far less than 3% rudder failure rate. Mark  

One of the retirements for a broken rudder was a Sydney 39 Cruiser, which according the the brochure, "The Sydney 39 Cruiser Racer is equipped to be highly competitive on the race course yet remain at heart: a blue water cruiser ". Probably shouldn't be loosing it's rudder. I totally agree that, otherwise, we shouldn't be getting too concerned about racing boats having equipment failures. Hey, at least they aren't being chewed off by deep-sea monsters as in Portugal and Spain.  

Barquito said: Hey, at least they aren't being chewed off by deep-sea monsters as in Portugal and Spain. Click to expand...

When I see lists of boats that drop out of a race, I try to place that information into some kind of perspective. It is pretty rare that there is adequate information to understand what really happened. Sometimes there is just enough that some conjecture may be useful. Often this conjecture is simply a SWAG without the science part. Before I take a WAG at this. I will start by saying that I am not trying to justify these failures but, by the same token, I do understand why these types of failures happen and see them as being par for the course. I suggest that it is important to understand that these boats are pushed very hard. In all conditions, they carry way more sail than any sensible cruiser would dare carry in those same conditions. Crew weight on the rail greatly increases the rig loads. These boats are kept at speed no matter what the conditions, which means they are launched off waves and come down hard on their topsides, hitting the keel and rudder solidly against the water when they land...The force of the landing whipping the rig, rudder and keel one way then the other as the boat regains buoyancy and righting moment. Those impacts violently try to whip the sails, masts and booms off the boat and pull the standing rigging out of the deck. With low stretch control lines, every impact load (whether from collisions with waves or waves filling the sails) is transferred solidly into the boat. The boats and crews get beaten mercilessly. For the mid-sized and smaller boats, at least one account described the course becoming a high wind beat into steep breaking seas. That is brutal stuff. But also, by and large, the boats in question predominantly are purpose built race boats. Even the so-called racer-cruisers are race focused designs. In comparison to cruising boats, modern race boats are engineered much more intensively with greatly reduced safety factors relative to those that would normally be applied to a coastal cruiser, let alone those applied to boat that is a purpose built long distance, offshore cruising design. This reduction in the safety factors comes with an understanding that these boats will be pushed very hard, but will require much more frequent and detailed inspections, and a whole lot more intensive maintenance than would be expected of a cruising boat. In that same way that the owner of a race boat expects to replace sails and rigging on a routine basis; rudder replacements, rudder bearing replacements, and any repairs to internal structure are just another line item to a competitive campaign. Adding to that, while race boats start out as being engineered to a minimum safety factor, Australian racers are notorious for 'optimizing' their boats. That often means adding more sail area, more weight in the bulb, a longer sprit, or a deeper keel. And each of those optimizations add greatly to the stresses felt by the boat; added stresses that the boat was never originally engineered to withstand. When I look at the list of retirements, its a mixed bag. Broken booms and goosenecks may be the result of poor engineering, poor maintenance, or operator error (such as over tightening the vang, or a uncontrolled crash jibe, or perhaps dipping a boom end in the water at speed with a preventer rigged, etc.). Losing a rudder, may also be the result of poor engineering, poor maintenance, poor build quality, being pushed too hard, or hitting something. The broken bowsprit and stem fitting apparently was the result of a collision between two boats. (On the lost rudder thing and solely as a point of reference- I almost lost my rudder a dozen years ago when my steering went out and I rigged the emergency tiller. During the previous haul-out we had removed and rebuilt the rudder, and replaced the bushings. When the rudder was reinstalled and the various parts were reassembled, the key between the emergency tiller base fitting and the rudder post was left out of the keyway. Every time I turned the emergency tiller, the fitting rotated and with each cycle, turned the thrust nut that kept the rudder from dropping out of the boat. With each back and forth swings of the tiller that nut was being loosened. It was only luck that I happened to notice that happening and was able to keep from having the nut come off and the rudder drop out the bottom of the boat potentially taking a piece of hull with it.) Looking at the age of the boats, one thing jumps out. The retirees seem to be either almost new boats (Beneteau 40 and the Sydney 39) or older race boats that are listed as having done a slew of racing. Newer boats may not be fully sorted out, but also may have other issues. I can't speak to the Beneteau 40, but for example the Sydney 39 is listed as being modified. I won't speculate on how it was modified and whether the mods have any impact on the rudder failure, but the pictures show a longer than standard sprit and a square top mainsail, neither of which appear on drawings for a stock Sydney 39. Regarding the older boats, the unknowns are how hard they were used and abused, how carefully they were maintained, and how far they were modified from the original design assumptions. But before this becomes a modern race boat criticism thread, I would point out that high attrition rates are not the sole province of modern race boats. Out of 32 skippers/boats that started the Golden Globe, only 7 of these traditional cruising boats are still racing (and one of those may drop out due to a broken bowsprit that endangers his rig.) Jeff .  

Jeff_H said: When I see lists of boats that drop out of a race, I try to place that information into some kind of perspective. It is pretty rare that there is adequate information to understand what really happened. Sometimes there is just enough that some conjecture may be useful. Often conjecture is simply a SWAG without the science part. Before I take a WAG at this. I will start by saying that I am not trying to justify these failures but, by the same token, I do understand why these types of failures happen and see them as being par for the course. I suggest that it is important to understand that these boats are pushed very hard. In all conditions, they carry way more sail than any sensible cruiser would dare carry in those same conditions. Crew weight on the rail greatly increases the rig loads. These boats are kept at speed no matter what the conditions, which means they are launched off waves and come down hard on their topsides, and hitting the keel and rudder solidly against the water when they land;. the force of the landing whipping the rig, rudder and keel one way then the other as the boat regains buoyancy and righting moment. Those impacts violently try to whip the sails, masts and booms off the boat and pull the standing rigging out of the deck. With low stretch control lines, every impact load (whether from collisions with waves or waves filling the sails) is transferred solidly into the boat. The boats and crews get beaten mercilessly. For the mid-sized and smaller boats, at least one account described the course becoming a high wind beat into steep breaking seas. That is brutal stuff. But also, by and large, the boats in question predominantly are purpose built race boats. Even the so-called racer-cruisers are race focused designs. In comparison to cruising boats, modern race boats are engineered much more intensively with greatly reduced safety factors relative to those that would normally be applied to a coastal cruiser, let alone those applied to boat purpose built long distance, offshore cruising design. This reduction in the safety factors comes with an understanding that these boats will be pushed very hard, but will require much more frequent and detailed inspections, and a whole lot more intensive maintenance than would be expected of a cruising boat. In that same way that the owner of a race boat expects to replace sails and rigging on a routine basis; rudder replacements, rudder bearing replacements, and any repairs to internal structure are just another line item to a competitive campaign. Adding to that, while race boats start out as being engineered to a minimum safety factor, Australian racers are notorious for 'optimizing' their boats. That often means adding more sail area, more weight in the bulb, a longer sprit, or a deeper keel. And each of those optimizations add greatly to the stresses felt by the boat; added stresses that the boat was never originally engineered to withstand. When I look at the list of retirements, its a mixed bag. Broken booms and goosenecks may be the result of poor engineering, poor maintenance, or operator error (such as over tightening the vang, or a uncontrolled crash jibe, dipping a boom end in the water at speed with a preventer rigged etc.). Losing a rudder, may also be the result of poor engineering, poor maintenance, poor build quality, being pushed too hard, or hitting something. The broken bowsprit and stem fitting apparently was the result of a collision between two boats. (As a point of reference, for example- I almost lost my rudder a dozen years ago when my steering went out and I rigged the emergency tiller. During the previous haul-out we had removed and rebuilt the rudder, and replaced the bushings. When the rudder was reinstalled and the various parts were reassembled, the key between the emergency tiller base fitting and the rudder post was left out of the keyway. Every time I turned the tiller, the fitting rotated and turned the thrust nut that kept the rudder from dropping out of the boat. With each swing of the tiller that nut was being loosened. I happened to notice that happening and was able to keep from having the rudder drop out the bottom of the boat potentially taking a piece of hull with it.) Looking at the age of the boats, one thing jumps out. The retirees seem to be either almost new boats (Beneteau 40 and the Sydney 39) or older race boats that are listed as having done a slew of racing. Newer boast may not be fully sorted out, but also may have other issues. I can't speak to the Beneteau 40, but for example the Sydney 39 is listed as being modified. I won't speculate on how it was modified and whether the mods have any impact on the rudder failure, but the pictures show a longer than standard sprit and a square top mainsail neither of which appear on drawings for a stock Sydney 39. Regarding the older boats, the unknowns are how hard they were used and abused, how carefully they were maintained, and how far they were modified from the original design assumptions. But before this becomes a modern race boat criticism thread, I would point out that high attrition rates are not the sole province of modern race boats. Out of 32 skippers/boats that started the Golden Globe, only 7 of these traditional cruising boats are still racing (and one of those may drop out due to a broken bowsprit that endangers his rig.) Jeff . Click to expand...

I had to reply to MarkofSeaLife. Hubby won the Sydney-Hobart overall on Rosebud in 2007 in one of those sleds with a crew of 16 very capable strong young men. In November he and I (along with two older gents) sailed down the east coast of the USA on our circa 1991 45 foot Little Harbor. Almost the whole way we reached in 20-30+ kts of wind. It was not comfortable. One crew got sick twice (once inside and once outside, thank god), and our dog got sick once. (I, as sewer rat, had to clean up the messes:ugh.) We weren’t offshore ever more than 20 miles. At one point I was saying, Let’s sell this f&*()ing boat!” At the same time, hubby was saying, “This is AWESOME!” (Two days after the end of the voyage, after I caught up on my sleep, I wanted to go out to sea again.) He loved the new challenge of ocean sailing short handed without the safety net of a crew of 16 professionals, a bunch of racing yachts, retiring, on board satellite weather, on board weatherman, etc. He loves navigating and problem solving. (We did hire a weather prediction service and had cell phone access most of the way.) It wasn’t quite a crossing but we were on our own more than most ocean races. That said, he has done (and won) the Newport-Bermuda and the Transpac among others. His hardest races were: St. Pete to Isla de Mujeres (during an unpredicted gulf tropical storm), Fastnet, and The Middle Sea where the mixed seas around Stromboli had huge waves and coming down on one of them broke the cheapest replaceable part on a diagonal on the mast to spreader and led to a catastrophic dismasting. They had even ultra-sounded the mast before the season and it was sound. It was a little O fastener somewhere. Hope I didn’t bore you. But I agree that ocean crossing as a cruiser is a different animal than racing. Racing is good preparation and you learn a lot about sailing and systems, navigating, etc. But cruising is its own challenge. He was getting bored with racing the same courses. I’m really glad he is finding cruising to be ”AWESOME.” (Btw, he considered our trip from RI to FL = roughly 3 Sydney Hobarts and called it a good shake down cruise.)  

The well-designed racing sailboat falls apart as soon as it crosses the finish line.  

A well designed race boat sets records and wins races year after year. Comanche has been winning ocean races and setting records since 2015. That's hardly falling apart. When something breaks, fix it and make it stronger. Sent from my SM-G981W using Tapatalk  

I truly enjoyed the response by Jeff_H on this topic. Not only was it comprehensive and without hand-wringing emotion, it was well compiled, and well written- like we'd find in a magazine as opposed to the knee-jerk quick responses found on forums. Technical aspects aside, it was a refreshing read, an enjoyable read, just for the sake of the use of language and composition.  

Thank you very much for the very kind words. Jeff  

Well done Jeff. Was great as always to watch the start and finish of the Sydney Hobart from the sofa in Texas, wish I was there! In following the Vendee, Sydney Hobart and other lengthy offshore races it seems the new designs are all with big wide flat sterns to allow for downwind surfing while sacrificing durability upwind. They really sound like they are going to break apart when upwind in difficult seas. I'm kind of partial to my C&C which can point in heavy seas with the best of them and the older S&S designs. Seems that J and X are able to accomplish both surfing and pointing upwind in their current racer cruiser models. Interesting topic nonetheless. Thanks.  

Frank C said: Well done Jeff. Click to expand...

Frank C said: all with big wide flat sterns to allow for downwind surfing while sacrificing durability upwind. They really sound like they are going to break apart when upwind in difficult seas. Click to expand...

For me, that would be thrilling for maybe a half hour. Then I'd want it to stop. Hats off to those intrepid adventurers, but not my cup of rum.  

sailorbillnz said: Id be interested to know what sort of breakages as a lot of modern boats have gone to glass in various forms instead of the good old S/S shafts, Iv seen a glass shaft break on a trip tp Tonga on a well known make only 3 years old , It had large voids in the lay up ??? Click to expand...

Sydney to Hobart yacht race team angry at 'how the hell it came to this'

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Watch: Near collision and early retirement in sensational start to Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

Protests, twists and drama galore at start of Rolex Sydney Hobart

There’s been a dramatic start to the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race with a near collision, shouting, swearing and calls for a protest.

In spectacular and crazy scenes, two race favourites were forced into penalty turns in a wild opening to the 77th race.

WATCH IN THE VIDEO ABOVE: Protests, twists and drama galore at start of Rolex Sydney Hobart

The overwhelming race favourites were the big four supermaxis - LawConnect, Black Jack, Andoo Comanche, and Wild Oats - and they were all vying for the early lead as the boats headed up Sydney Harbour.

But Andoo Comanche was involved in a very close call with Wild Oats and both supermaxis did penalty turns amid shouts of ‘protest’.

Andoo Comanche did a penalty turn after bumping a turning mark while Wild Oats decided to do one after great confusion and debate.

Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race begins

“Furl, furl, we are going to do a 720 (penalty turn),’’ Wild Oats skipper Mark Richards shouted.

‘“I honestly think we’re in trouble.”

During all the chaos, there was also an early retirement after Avalanche damaged its bowsprit and made the call to pull the pin.

Wild Oats XI has returned to the race this year and is looking for a ridiculous tenth line-honours title.

Earlier, Andoo Comanche’s skipper John Winning Jr had opened up on what what to expect and avoid based on his previous experiences.

Finishing the Sydney to Hobart is one challenge, but surviving the post-race celebrations involving alcohol-fuelled, sweaty and unwashed sailors can be another ordeal, according Willing Jr.

He didn’t hold back when fronting the media a few hours before the race’s start about what awaited those intrepid enough to venture into Hobart’s Customs House, the traditional post-race meeting place.

“Will McCarthy off Black Jack has already announced that he is in charge,” Winning said.

“Last time at Customs house when I was there, I think he got me into a headlock and brought me back into the bar and said ‘you’re not going anywhere whippersnapper’.

“He’s a veteran of Customs House and he says we’ve got to follow his lead and I’ll be doing my best to try and avoid him.

“It will celebrating, just be good spirits and having fun and hugging our loved ones and seeing the family and hopefully some sleep and praying for a shower.

“It stinks when you’re down in Customs House when you’re in there with all those sailors that are getting off straight off the boat.

“If you ever go down there to Customs House, if you are there, put some sort of nose plug on.

“There’s a lot of sweaty sailors that have been at sea with no deodorant and no showers for days and it just gets worse and worse

“We grow with the smell from here to there so it doesn’t really matter to us too much. But I remember one day when I was on Loyal I went away and had a shower and came back in clean clothes and ‘phooor, what is that?’ it was like walking into a pig farm.”

Winning said it seemed less likely that his boat’s 2017 race record of one day nine hours 15 minutes 24 seconds would be broken.

“The conditions are just a bit lighter than it was yesterday and we’re going to be early to the transition down the bottom, which is going to hurt us a little bit, we might not see as much wind the whole way down as we thought,” Winning said.

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