Survival mode: LawConnect struggles to defend title in brutal Sydney-Hobart after fatalities and dismastings

Two sailors dead and three yachts dismasted as LawConnect crew fights for line honours in tragic Sydney-Hobart race.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 26: LawConnect sails out of Sydney head during the start of the 2025 Sydney to Hobart on Sydney Harbour on December 26, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

The crew of defending champion LawConnect chose to drive to survive in their attempt to claim back-to-back line honours titles in a brutal Rolex Sydney-Hobart race that killed two sailors, washed a man overboard, dismasted three yachts and sent others into preservation mode.

LawConnect, a 100-foot Australian supermaxi, was expected to cross the line first in the early hours of Saturday morning, well outside the race record of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes 24 seconds set by Comanche in 2017.

Its main rival Comanche had led on the opening night but was forced to withdraw when its mainsail was badly damaged.

The chase was taken up by NSW yacht Celestial V70, Wild Thing 100 and No Limit.

The NSW yacht Flying Fish Arctos and South Australia yacht Bowline each lost a crewman.

Flying Fish Arctos which had a crew member died during the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Pic Supplied.

Flying Fish Arctos lost Western Australian sailor, Roy Quaden, 55, killed when he was struck in the back of the head by the boom, which is the horizontal spar that holds the mainsail.

Bowline’s dead crewman was identified as Nick Smith, a 65-year-old sailor from South Australia.

25/12/2024: Final preparations are underway as crews enjoy christmas day ahead of the race out of the harbour for Sydney Hobart 2024. (L-R) Melanie Bushby, Banjo Greaves, Nick Smith, Troy Moler and Paul Senior on Bowline. PIC: Summer Liu

“Nick was a very experienced sailor,” said Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s vice-Commodore David Jacobs.

“We thought that he had been hit by the boom, as had Roy.

“We have now learned that that wasn’t the case, that he was hit by the mainsheet [rope that secures the end of the boom to the deck].

“The mainsheet threw him across the boat and unfortunately he hit his head on the winch and that’s what killed him.

“The boats are now safely in the harbour and we have offered support to the families, you can imagine how distressing it is for the family and friends, but indeed of all the crew of those two boats.”

LawConnect’s skipper Christian Beck said the fatalities had thrown a dark cloud over the event.

Christian Beck while training for the Rolex Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Picture Andrea Francolini

“It’s a huge tragedy – I found out like everyone else on the news channels,” Beck said.

“It’s a complete shock but I can see why, the conditions were terrible.

“It takes a lot away from the race because I think everyone is very sad about it and it’s not the same when something like that happens.”

Hobart yachtsman Rob Fisher, a veteran of 23 Sydney-Hobarts and whose father Tony famously took line honours aboard the original concrete-hulled Helsal in 1973, said the deaths would be “devastating” for the crews.

“I could not imagine how hard it would be to spend six hours motoring back into port with one of your crewmates on board deceased,” Fisher said.

“I get choked up just thinking about it.

“It would be very, very tough.”

Fisher said every boom demanded respect.

“Just imagine the power of a 200kg boom, when they’ve got 25 knots up the backside and they do an inadvertent jibe and the boom snaps across and hits someone.

“It’s worse than being hit in the head by a baseball bat at full swing.

“Just imagine what a baseball bat can do at full swing, let alone 200kg of boom.”

Fisher was in no doubt that despite the deaths, the race should continue.

“Of course it should,” he said.

“That’s just silly talk by people uneducated toward the situation.

“Calling the race off doesn’t change the position each boat is in.

“If you are racing and they call the race off, nothing changes _ you’re still sitting out there in the same conditions.

“It’s not like a car race where they can pull over to the side of the road and get out.

“The sea state is still going to be identical and the wind doesn’t change because the CYCA has called the race off.

“It’s up to every skipper to say can we keep going in these conditions or should we turn around.”

Beck agreed it was up to the skipper to make that call.

“Everyone makes their own choice about what they want to do and their own risks, but it is so terrible when something goes wrong,” he said.

“It normally goes right and the race has a good safe history generally, but obviously it has been terrible this time.”

Vice Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club Australia David Jacobs in Hobart with an update on the 2024 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race after the death of two sailors during the race. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Mr Jacobs said most of the 104 starters were still racing.

“We’ve had three yachts dismasted, four with issues with their mainsail or rigging, two with mechanical issues, six with crew issues so not well or injured to a point where they thought they should retire, four with what I loosely call structural issues and two with electrical issues,” he said.

Celestial V70 led the race on handicap from New Zealand yacht Caro and NSW yacht No Limit.

Originally published as Survival mode: LawConnect struggles to defend title in brutal Sydney-Hobart after fatalities and dismastings