Sydney to Hobart 2020: A favourite in battle to make Boxing Day start

A howling Sydney southerly and an edict from health officials in Queensland are conspiring to put the Sydney to Hobart campaign of a famous boat and its well known skipper in jeopardy.

Beau Geste racing on the harbour before the 2017 Sydney to Hobart.

Former line honours winner Grant Wharington and his new, still-to-be-badged 80-footer have run foul of coronavirus quarantine measures in Brisbane with eight crew - who spent 24 days at sea on their own during the delivery of the boat from the US to Australia - now in hotel isolation.

Wharington originally believed his crew would not have to hotel quarantine as they has been by themselves at sea for more than three weeks delivering the yacht, known as AUS 80, to Australia.

Now worried his crew will not be available to bring the yacht from Brisbane to Sydney, Wharington is rushing to put together a makeshift team to sail south in time for it to be measured on Wednesday to satisfy paperwork requirements for the Sydney to Hobart.

Beau Geste making its way down the coast after the start of the 2017 race.

If the yacht, with the potential to win the race if delivered the right conditions, runs into any type of setback and does not make its appointment, it could miss out on racing.

“We are also missing out on valuable time learning about the new boat,’’ said Wharington, one of four owners of the 80-footer formerly known as Beau Geste and owned by Hong Kong’s Karl Kwok.

“We need time to learn the systems. It’s a new boat for us, we need to get to know it.’’

Wharington’s sailors are not due to be released from quarantine under December 14.

Grant Wharington with his former yacht, the supermaxi Wild Thing.

It was originally planned AUS 80, to be crewed in the Sydney to Hobart by a team of sailors from NSW, Queensland and the Northern Territory, would arrive in Sydney on Sunday but a gale forced southerly off the NSW coast stymied this plan.

“They were coming into Sydney but that was quite a bit storm so we said lets peel off and go to Brisbane,’’ Wharington said.

Wharington claimed line honours in the Sydney to Hobart with his Skandia yacht in 2003 and in 2012 was sensationally stopped from competing in the race due to non-compliant paper work.

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