Probably the craziest day of my sailing life, and not one I'm sure I'd want to repeat, but the scene was amazing.
I'm adding a selection of the photos we (mostly Lauren) took from our vantage spot near the first turning marks (just as the yachts turned and headed out through Sydney Heads). We had a great view of how this early part of the race unfolded, with Perpetual Loyal first around the mark and then being absolutely demolished by Comanche as the boats cracked off the wind heading for the 2nd rounding marks. We've tried to give a feel for what it was like to be out in one of the many hundreds of spectator craft that make the start of this race so special. Hard to find the adjectives. Terrifying would definitely be one of them. There is also this video that I shot when I had a few "spare" seconds...
Photos follow. I'll try to add captions where I think they add something...
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| The calm before the storm. The waiting spectator fleet... |
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| Here come the yachts! |
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| The Murdochs on the tender to their new 140 ft sailing yacht "Sarissa" |
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| Life in the spectator fleet is becoming a little scary at this point |
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| A good turnout ashore on South Head |
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| These things can block your view something terrible! |
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| The floating pizza slice - Comanche |
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| Well done Perpetual Loyal, first around the mark! |
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| Second was Comanche |
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| As the yachts crack off the wind Comanche changes gear and simply disappears! |
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| Ah, good. It was getting dull. Here come the (spectator) reinforcements... |
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| Is anyone actually looking where they are going? |
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| Out through the Heads |
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| And a few more reinforcements... |
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| And some more... |
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| The kites come out, they're off to Hobart! Watch out for the forecast Southerly change guys... |
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| A nice day to be driving someone else's boat! |
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| Ooops, what was that I just ran over...? |
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| Check out the arms on this guy...! |
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| Hmmm. What's to say? Thanks Lauren...! |
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| Maserati untangling the marker buoy they captured on the way up the channel |
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| Remarkably calm looking skipper |
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| And they're off! Good luck guys! |
Wow, these sure do a good job showing the mayhem. I'm guessing that big green thing was applying the law of superior tonnage as it barged through the spectators? Some of those boats are really close to each other, and the guys on the paddle boards are just plain suicidal. Loved it all. I guess the reason Perpetual Loyal couldn't unfurl their kite were the lines they were dragging as shown in your picture, lol.
ReplyDeleteThanks Casper, glad you enjoyed them.
DeleteA couple of points about the "big green thing": a) there were actually 2 of them a couple of hundred metres apart - just to double the fun. b) They are the Sydney Harbour Manly ferries and have a God-given right to target recreational vessels at will. c) Just to add fun they have bows and propellers and rudders at both ends! what is more they can use them independently so can actually move sideways using opposing thrust. d) The law of superior tonnage definitely applies e) they had the neat ability to actually push small (say 40-60ft) craft drifting in front of them out of the way by directing a short burst of power from the propeller facing the offending craft. Awesome to watch, from a distance.
To be fair, we didn't actually witness any collisions. I can't believe that there weren't any though.
Yeah, a bit embarrassing about PL's lines over the side. No idea if this was connected with their subsequent kite problems. Ah well, it all became academic in the end anyway.
Apparently New Year's Eve on the harbour is just like the S-H start, only worse - its dark, many skippers are drunk, and there are anchors involved. What could possibly go wrong? We're looking forward to that. Haven't had to anchor with fenders out before coming to Sydney, but we're getting used to it...
These photos, and the video,are absolutely amazing! I can't believe you were out there, in that chaos! Skipper did look calm but his heart, and mind, must have been racing!
ReplyDeleteAnother Lesser adventure!