Sydney to Hobart yacht race: LawConnect’s Mitch White on dramas at sea, twisters and danger
He’s either one of the luckiest - or unluckiest sailors on earth, depending on which way you look at it. But this supermaxi sailor has some extraordinary tales to tell.
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Mitch White has had more close calls at sea than most do in their lifetime on land.
He’s been caught up in a twister, been knocked unconscious 100 plus feet in the air and battled some of the worst conditions Mother Nature can cough up.
But for White, it’s all just another day at work doing what he loves.
“I’ve had some moments. If any one says they haven’t, they are lying,’' said White's who’s company One Stop Marine manages boats.
“If I walk across the road enough times something will happen.’’
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White, married with a two years old son Kai and a daughter Eden, 10, is heading south in the Sydney to Hobart this year on the supermaxi LawConnect, hoping for success and more thrills. Just not as dramatic as some of his other ocean races in the past.
The northern beaches sailor contested his first Sydney to Hobart at age 18 on the famous Sydney maxi Brindabella.
Two years later in 2001 a young and fit White was the bowman aboard the line honours favourite, Ludde Ingvall’s yacht Nicorette.
Just hours after the 1pm start on Sydney Harbour, things got a little weird as a twister at sea, visible from land off the coast of Wollongong, smacked Nicorette as she lead the fleet south.
The yacht was slammed by cyclonic force winds as the crew battened down the hatches to ride out the storm.
“It laid us right over, the top of the mast was laying on the water. Then it’s gone around and it happened the other way as well, laid us right over,’’ White recalled.
“Not one of us was scared. We were in survival mode.
“I just remember the guy in the nav (navigation) station shouting out each (wind) increment and then he said, ‘it doesn’t work after 100 knots’.
“It was one of those funny ones, we just couldn’t outrun it. It just gobbled us up.
“Everybody was gob smacked.’’
The Swedish maxi, the defending champion and pre-race favourite, surrendered her lead during the twister and wild hailstorm which followed and caused widespread sail damage in the fleet.
Video footage later released from aboard the yacht showed a great funnel shaped cloud moving at speed across the water to the boat.
“It was the biggest, most awesome and awful experience I’ve ever felt,’’ said skipper Ingvall after the incident.
But this wasn’t the last drama the 39-year-old Fairlight sailor experienced at sea.
In 2003 he was up a towering mast in the Sydney to Hobart doing a sail change when he swung out and wrapped himself around the spreaders and knocked himself unconscious.
A Sydney to Hobart crewmen was then sent up the mast to bring him down to safety.
“I was back sailing the next day,'’ he said.
In yet another race on the New Zealand yacht Konica Minolta, a safety clip snapped 50 miles off Tasman Island and he was sent flying down the deck, breaking an stanchion and pinching nerves in his back.
“I couldn’t feel anything below my waists for 20 minutes,’’ White said.
But none of this has put White off ocean racing.
“It is my life. It’s part and parcel of what I do,’’ he said ahead of his 18th Sydney to Hobart.
Over the years White’s career as a pro sailor has seen him compete in some of the most famous ocean races in the world including the Bermuda, Transpac and Fastnet races.
“It’s passion. It's good, it’s fun. I enjoy the bigger boats. I wouldn't do it in a smaller boat.
“I'll keep doing it until it stops me.’’
Christian Beck’s LawConnect is one of three supermaxis in the 2021 Sydney to Hobart.
The 100-footer will be battling for line honours against the David Witt skippered Scallywag, a Hong Kong entry crewed by Australians, and the Mark Bradford skippered Black Jack.
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