Brisbane Olympic sailing hope Ben Crafoord keen as for wild time in first Sydney to Hobart
His first memory of the Sydney to Hobart is watching a start from a harbourside beach at age four. Now this teen with Olympic sized sailing ambition is about to join the fleet for a “wild” ride
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His first memory of the Sydney to Hobart is watching a start from a harbourside beach at age four. Now this teen with Olympic sized sailing ambition is about to join the 79th fleet for a “wild” ride alongside his dad.
Talented 29er skiff sailor Ben Crafoord will race south aboard the supermaxi Wild Thing alongside father Carl, one of the veterans of the race with 37 Hobarts under his belt.
The 18-year-old has nabbed one of the fastest and wildest rides in the race south with the Grant Wharington skippered speedster expected to be one of the first in to Hobart after hitting extreme speeds in super fast nor’easterlies being forecast for the first stanza of the race.
“I’m as keen as,’’ said the teen who just completed his schooling with an ATSAR of 98.70 in the HSC and is a member of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Youth Academy which helps prepare young sailors for the race.
“I think my very first memory was watching the start from the beach after mum pulled me out of pre school to watch. That was pretty special. I was only about four but I remember it,’’ Crafoord said.
While he has raced with his father for years this is the first time Crafoord is eligible to do a Sydney to Hobart after a raft of safety rules were introduced in the wake of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart which claimed the lives of six men.
From 1999 only sailors older than 18 have been eligible to compete in the annual race.
The races infamous history is not something Crafoord shirks from.
“I think maybe when I was seven or eight I realised I really wanted to do it,’’ he said.
“I was watching it on TV and one of the yachts was racing across Bass Strait and it was really rough and I though, that is cool.’’
Crafoord started sailing Optimists but has since graduated to 29er skiffs, a feeder class to the Olympic 49er skiffs.
The young sailor, who with crewmate Jacobs Marks finished seventh at the world 29ers in the UK in 2023, is also keen to push forward with his Olympic dream ahead of the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane.
“I’d like to go to an Olympics. I am aspiring to Brisbane,’’ he said.
Crafoord said there is nothing he is dreading about his first race to Hobart.
“I think you have to be courageous and help out and make yourself helpful to everyone and just learn from the experience,’’ he said.
“I’ve done heaps of sailing with dad but this is my first big race with him and it will be special.
“The part of the race I am most looking forward to is sailing up the Derwent (River) at the finish. That will be pretty exciting.’’
The Sydney to Hobart yacht race starts at 1pm on Boxing Day.
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Originally published as Brisbane Olympic sailing hope Ben Crafoord keen as for wild time in first Sydney to Hobart
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