Scallywag sailors Nick Meyer, Scott Salter keen to go full distance this year
Last year Nick Meyer and Scott Salter won the prize for the quickest trip back to Sydney on a supermaxi after the start of the Sydney to Hobart. This year they have loftier ambitions.
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Former rugby players Nick Meyer and Scott Salter know their place on the inner west-based supermaxi Scallywag - up the front of the 100-footer and taking the big hits for the crew.
The Central Coast pair, old rugby mates of skipper David Witt, will be aboard the Hong Kong entry for the 75th anniversary Sydney to Hobart.
But the pair are hoping this year’s trip south lasts more than the four odd hours it did last time round.
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“We did the Sydney to nowhere race,’’ said Meyer of Birkenhead Point-moored Scallywag being the highest profile early casualty of last year’s jaunt to Tasmania.
The bowsprit on the supermaxi snapped off, forcing Witt and his team to retire from the bluewater classic before dark the first afternoon at sea while leading the fleet in the 628 nautical mile race.
“We won the race to Nowra and then the race to be first supermaxi back in Sydney,’‘ Meyer said of the early retirement.
“The goal is to get a lot further this year.’’
It was a disappointing result for the crew who entered the race with high hopes of a line honours victory.
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But on Boxing Day the pair will be part of a 19-strong crew with the same ambition as last year - to claim the fastest time honours in the annual race south which started in 1945 when nine little wooden yachts sailed out the Heads at the start of the first Sydney to Hobart.
More familiar with the rules of rugby than the subtleties of ocean racing, Meyer and Salter will work on the bow of the supermaxi during the Sydney to Hobart.
“We are not there for our brains. We are there to soak up the water and protect Witty from it. We are the back row of the boat,’’ Meyer said.
Scallywag is owned by Hong Kong based Seng Huang Lee, who owns Hayman Island resort in the Whitsundays.
But the crew of the yachts is predominantly Australian, including Witt who used to coach Myer and Salter at Ourimbah.