Sydney to Hobart yacht race 1998: The tragic story of veteran yacht Winston Churchill
Richard Winning was skipper of the veteran yacht Winston Churchill in the 1998 Sydney to Hobart. It sank after falling off a massive wave. Three of her nine crew were later lost at sea.
“We were going over the wave like we were sliding down the face of a mountain on a toboggan.” Winston Churchill skipper Richard Winning.
It’s not hard to imagine Richard Winning as a sea captain.
Pipe in mouth, navy wool pea coat and captain’s hat.
This Sydney sailor, bears an uncanny resemblance to old portraits of ancient mariners.
Winning is a man of the sea. But he is also a man without a boat he once loved dearly.
A famous old boat which was the pride of the fleet that set sail at precisely 1pm under blue skies on December 26, 1998.
A Huon pine yacht carrying a group of old mates south in a famous Australian yacht race which was about to become infamous.
In the 1998 race six men lost their lives, 30 civil and military aircraft helped rescue 55 sailors from stricken yachts and life rafts, five boats sank and seven were abandoned.
Just 44 of the 115 yachts to start the race finished it.
Three of the men who died at sea were sailing on the Winston Churchill.
“The Winston Churchill was timber, built in 1942, she did the first race in 1945,’’ Winning says. “I had her for two to three years and totally restored her.”
On December 27, 1998, around 5.15pm in the afternoon, Winning made a chilling call.
“Mayday, Mayday, Mayday: here is Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill, we are taking water rapidly, we can’t get the motor started to start the pumps, we are getting the life rafts on deck.”
Then the batteries went dead.
“About 5pm John Dean and myself were on deck and we copped this almighty knockdown,’’ Winning said of a fatal blow inflicted on the boat by a 60-foot wave.
“It knocked her on her side. When she came up, John and I were tangled on the back stay and our feet were dangling, off the deck.
“Steamer (John Stanley) came up on deck after the knockdown. We got untangled with his help. The worst part with the knockdown, when she got slapped on the side, it blew out the windows and sucked out all the electronics.
“When we realised it was starting to sink we knew we had to get a mayday out.
“The GPS was rooted, the chart with our positions was gone, the little hand held GPS wasn’t working.
“The HF radio didn’t work. We tried to put it out on the VHF and that’s what (the late) Gary Ticehurst (ABC helicopter pilot) heard. He just happened to hear it.’’
Roughly five minutes after the old beauty was smashed on her side, her crew evacuated into two life rafts and the boat sank before their eyes.
“The most vivid thing is the way she sank. It was horrible, the mast just disappearing. I have a photograph of it in my mind,’’ Winning says.
“We tied both rafts together so we didn’t get separated. But we were pulled apart.”
Now dark, the nightmare was only just beginning.
“We got flipped twice, everyone managed to get back,” Winning says. “But after the second flip, the last one, we just spent the rest of the night shitting ourselves.
“I have never seen anything like it. We were going over the wave like we were sliding down the face of a mountain on a toboggan. They were mountainous.
“There was a roaring to it. Especially at night.
“It was an enormous relief when daylight came.’’
Around 24 hours after the Winston Churchill sank Winning and his raft of sailors were rescued.
“About 5pm the helicopter arrived,” Winning says. “We had some flares we let off. They must have seen the flares. A man came down on the wire and plucked us out one by one.’’
In the other life raft, Stanley and John Gibson were the only survivors.
Their mates Jim Lawler, Mike Bannister and John Dean were lost at sea, swept away from a disintegrating life raft.
Gould was the only survivor from the Winston Churchill crew to do the Sydney to Hobart again.
“I went back to sea but I didn’t do another Hobart again,’’ says Winning, who has been on the Sydney to Hobart radio relay vessel 10 times since the 1998 race.
“Shit yeah. I had a rough time after this. You can’t go through losing your mates without effect. It stuck in my head.”
This year Winning will watch as his cousin John Winning and his son John Winning Jnr race south aboard the 60-footer Winning Appliances.
The yacht is sailing in honour of the men lost at sea 20 years ago.
Every Test, ODI, T20I, and BBL match live & ad-break free during play. SIGN UP NOW!
Noted! How Aussies chasing winning edge at Youth America’s Cup
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but Australian sailors are relying on it giving them an extra edge at the America’s Cup youth regatta in Barcelona.
Remember their names! Best 125 NSW teens chasing Waratahs U15 squad spots
They are the top 125 U15 rugby youngsters in NSW given the chance to impress in the Gen Next Cup as they chase a spot in their first Waratahs squad. See who made the cut.