Sydney to Hobart: Iain Murray says 2018 and 2005 sweetest wins for Wild Oats XI
Former Americas Cup campaigner Iain Murray has rated Wild Oats’ victory in the 74th Sydney to Hobart as one of the best ever - and he should know as one of only a handful of men on the crew for all her nine line honours wins.
Former Americas Cup campaigner Iain Murray has rated Wild Oats’ victory in the 74th Sydney to Hobart as one of the best ever - and he should know as one of only a handful of men on the crew for all her nine line honours wins.
Murray said the tactical battle between the four supermaxis who finished within 42 minutes of each other in the 628 nautical mile race made the win one of the sweetest.
“The first one in 2005 because we had no idea how she would go and this one. They are the sweetest,’’ he said.
Murray, Steve Jarvin, skipper Mark Richard, Robbie Naismith and Rodney Daniels have been aboard Wild Oats X1 for every one of her line honours victories.
Murray said a specially designed spinnaker built for the race and recent modifications had helped the yacht a winning edge.
“The spinnaker made a difference. It really had its moments,’’ Murray said.
So too did Spanish navigator Juan Vilas’s decision to take a slightly more easterly route at Tasman Island on Friday morning than Wild Oats’ rivals.
“The race was about risk management, trying to get everything right,’’ Vila said.
The front runners were almost in sight of each other’s from the start before Wild Oats escaped in the final hours of the race for her win.
The Queensland yachts Black Jack finished second, Jim Cooney’s Comanche third and Christian Beck’s InfoTrack fourth.
Sydney to Hobart win a pain in the foot
He injured his ankle the first day at sea but it wasn’t until he got to Hobart on Wild Oats X1 that Steve Jarvin realised he had sailed the entire race with a broken foot.
Just hours after arriving in Hobart for a record 14th line honours victory, Jarvin was in hospital getting X-rays on his injured foot.
The man they call “Mothy” said he rolled his ankle the first day of the race but managed to continue racing not realising the extent of the injury.
“It’s pretty sore and look a bit ugly,’’ he said after docking.
It was only after medical attention that he realised how serious the injury was.
Jarvin said Wild Oats X1 got them to Hobart but it was the 20-strong crew who earned Wild Oats X1 their “best ever” victory in the Sydney to Hobart.
Against the strongest field of supermaxis ever assembled, Wild Oats held her nerve to claim a ninth line honours win — and her first since 2014.
“The crew made a real difference, we are a well-oiled machine,’’ said
Jarvin, the most winning sailor in Hobart history with 14 line honours wins, two race records and two overall wins.
“It was tense, it was pretty physically demanding with a lot of sail changes and in the end it was the last men left standing,’’ he added.
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