‘The worst experience I’ve ever had sailing’: Winning Hobart skipper reveals his fear

The owner of the winning boat in this year’s Sydney to Hobart yacht race says more needs to be done to protect sailors, after he experienced the worst conditions he had ever seen on the water on the night two sailors died.

Christian Beck’s LawConnect took out line honours when the supermaxi arrived in Hobart’s River Derwent at 2.35am on Saturday, with a time of one day, 13 hours, 35 minutes and 13 seconds.

LawConnect crosses the line to win the 2024 Sydney to Hobart.Credit: Getty Images

But after Nick Smith and Roy Quaden died in separate incidents on the water, celebrations at the dock were muted. The traditions of champagne, boisterous cheers and the throwing of Beck into the water were all absent.

“[The race] was pretty easy to start with, but the first night was the worst experience I’ve ever had sailing,” Beck said. “You just had huge winds, and when you’re going downwind, a lot more can go wrong.

“It was scary … The winds were 30-40 knots. The swell wasn’t huge, but 30-40 knots was a lot of wind, really. And obviously you’re trying to race, and watch [rival supermaxi] Comanche. And it’s at night, as well, so it was just super scary.

“I was below deck for most of that, but what I did see scared me a lot.”

Roy Quaden (left) and Nick Smith (right) were both killed in the 2024 Sydney to Hobart yacht race.Credit:

Just before midnight on Friday, 55-year-old Roy Quaden, from Western Australia, was struck in the head by a boom on the Mosman-based Flying Fish Arctos. Hours later, just after 2am, South Australian Nick Smith, 65, was thrown across Adelaide-based Bowline and hit his head on a winch.

An investigation will be held into the fatalities, which are the first deaths in the event since 1998, when six sailors perished in wild storms.

Beck called for the deaths to spur the sailing community to further consider safety in heavy downwind situations, when boats are pushed from behind.

“Every now and again, these things do create the need to focus on certain things. And I think the downwind, high wind is obviously clearly an issue. The [Cruising Yacht Club of Australia] do a great job on so many aspects … but it may be that a bit more focus may need to go into the heavy downwind scenario because that’s probably, in my opinion, the most dangerous part of it.”

The LawConnect crew arrived in Hobart in the early hours of Saturday morning.Credit: Getty Images

On Friday, the CYCA’s vice commodore David Jacobs said it would have been safer to continue the race than to stop it. Seperately, Beck said he thought smaller boats deciding not to race or pulling out during tough conditions was something they should consider.

“[Stopping the race] is a question that always should be asked. It probably doesn’t happen enough,” Beck said. “In our case, we had a very professional crew that are used to doing around-the-world ocean racing … So that’s very different to a small boat that has largely amateur sailors. So they’re very different risk profiles.”

Pair remembered

The tragedy has led to an outpouring of grief for Smith in Adelaide’s tight-knit watersports community.

Smith was an avid participant in both dragon boating and outrigger canoeing clubs from 2005, racing with the Powerblades Dragonboat Club, Adelaide Outriggers, Water Warriors and Adelaide Sea Dragons.

Sailor Neil Parker said his friend had “a zest for life and was always busy doing something interesting”.

“Nick’s position on the boat was usually on the mainsail, and that was when his usually smiling, relaxed face was serious and full of concentration.”

Dragonboat SA president Julie Lister said Smith was a much-liked and respected member of the paddling community, “passionate about his sailing and paddling, a gentleman with an easygoing smile and a willing hand for any occasion”.

Marie Van Vlemen participated in dragon boating competitions alongside Smith, describing him as an “adventure seeker” who was always smiling.

“Nick raced at Australian Outrigger Nationals, the River Paddle Marathon and in our local southern states zone regattas in his time,” she said.

Another crew mate, Thomas Grantham, said Smith would be sorely missed and remembered fondly by the small sailing community.

“I’ve sailed with him a few times, where I found him to be humble, helpful and kind to other crewmates,” he said. “He was always great to talk to on and off the water.”

Quaden worked as a senior drilling manager for Inpex, a Japanese energy company with operations in Asia and Australia. In June this year, he moved to Jakarta to work on a liquified natural gas project with the company. Before working with Inpex for six years in Perth, Quaden had a 13-year career with Shell, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Inpex corporate senior vice president Bill Townsend said the company was “deeply saddened to hear of the loss of our valued colleague Roy”.

“Our thoughts and condolences are with his family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time,” he said in a statement to The West Australian newspaper.

Most boats yet to arrive in Hobart

NSW 70-foot Celestial V70 took second place in the line honours contest, arriving in Hobart with a time of 1 day, 16 hours, 10 minutes and 20 seconds.

Wild Thing 100 arrived in Hobart shortly afterwards, as the sun rose over the Derwent on Saturday morning. It recorded a time of 1 day, 16 hours, 37 minutes and 35 seconds.

At 2.30pm on Saturday, 29 of the 104-strong starting fleet had retired, citing problems including electrical issues and crew injuries. The vast majority of the yachts were still battling it out across Bass Strait, but only a handful were expected to finish on Saturday.

On the water, LawConnect’s hopes received a boost when rival and fellow supermaxi Master Lock Comanche retired with mainsail damage early on Friday morning while leading the fleet.

After finishing second in three consecutive races, LawConnect pipped Comanche by just 51 seconds in 2023 in a battle up the Derwent.

This race is the third time LawConnect has claimed line honours, after initial success in 2016 as Perpetual Loyal.

With AAP

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