Broken records or broken masts: Wild weather set to lash Sydney to Hobart

Sailors in this week’s Sydney to Hobart were planning to break race records, but instead they may be facing a different kind of wreckage, with a dramatic weather front set to strike only hours after the race begins.

Downpours, abrupt wind changes and thunderstorms have all been predicted, with fast and favourable winds at the start of the race turning sour as the largest yachts approach the Bass Strait.

A southwesterly is set to hit racers as they approach the Bass Strait.Credit: BOM

“At the moment, we’re expecting strong winds to be likely for the race. There’s the chance that we could be seeing some gale wind warnings,” Gabrielle Woodhouse, senior meteorologist for the NSW Bureau of Meteorology, said at a pre-race briefing at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

“There’s also the chance we could be seeing the risk of some lightning or some thunderstorms.”

Woodhouse offered positive news for the Thursday’s race start, saying winds in the harbour would sit at around 15 knots, increasing to 20 knots once yachts turn out of the heads, with sunny weather. However by Thursday afternoon, further south on the NSW coast, sailors can expect to be hit with destructive 35 knot winds and gloomy skies.

The full force of the trough is expected to strike in the early hours of Friday morning, just as the most competitive 100-foot supermaxi yachts hit the Bass Strait, where a southwesterly change could bring winds of up to 40 knots. For some, like race favourite Master Lock Comanche’s co-skipper James Mayo, this is all par for the course.

Master Lock Comanche co-skipper James Mayo, and the Illingworth Cup, awarded to first over the line at Hobart.Credit: Rhett Wyman

“It’s better than waking up on Boxing Day and knowing you’re facing a southerly,” Mayo said. “For us, it’s about keeping the boat in one piece.

“There definitely looks like there [will be] some difficult periods that you’ve got to transition through.

“It’s about putting all our heads together, assessing what’s put in front of us, and working through that. Hopefully get there first.”

Comanche is the current race record holder for its line honours win in 2017, and is widely recognised as the fastest yacht of its kind in the world. However, it was second over the line last year, losing out to LawConnect by just 51 seconds, and is hoping to maximise the friendly conditions at the start of the race to reclaim its title.

“The forecast is going to present some significant speeds to this boat,” Mayo said.

“There are a bunch of manoeuvres that you’ve got to perform, and that could be in the middle of the night or during the day, whenever it is, and you’ve got to get through those safely and keep the boat in one piece.”

Lee Goddard, chairman of the race committee, said in the safety briefing “people will be caught in some significant weather” when sailors reached the Bass Strait, asking racers to be “risk aware, not risk averse” as emergency services may be needed elsewhere to support forecasted bushfires in Victoria and NSW.

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