Sean Langman’s minnow Kismet a ‘darkhorse’ in Sydney to Hobart yacht race fight for victory
One is on the biggest yacht and the other the fleet minnow but these sailors will be two of the most exhausted at sea in what is shaping as a fast but “complicated’’ Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
Their transport to Hobart could not be more different but Master Lock Comanche navigator Juan Vila and Kismet skipper Sean Langman will have plenty in common in a Sydney to Hobart predicted to be very fast, very complicated and potentially record breaking.
The early forcast for the race of hours of fast running and reaching play into the hands of the former line honours winner and current record holder Master Lock Comanche, a 100-foot super maxi with speed to burn and being sailed south by co-skipper James Mayo and Matt Allen.
A front is also on the menu some time the second day at sea after the 1pm start on Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day. The timing of this could determine if the 2024 race is a record breaker.
World famous Spanish navigator Vila, in charge of the strategy and track the yacht will take to get to Hobart, believes the race record “is not quite there’’ with the current forcast but is still “hanging around’’.
“If the next front doesn’t come through too early then there could be a record but right now there are a lot of if’s,’’ said Vila who will work on just a few hours of sleep in his navigation station studying weather and currents and satellite images as he plots the 100-footers trek on the 628nm race curse.
“It’s is still a bit uncertain, but it is not ruled out.
“There’s a lot of sections through the race and a lot of weather phenomena that can affect the strategies. It’s a really exciting race. It’s really complicated, but that’s why it makes it very interesting for navigators.”
A fast race would put Master Lock Comanche and her biggest rivals for line honours, defending champion LawConnect, in prime position to also secure the coveted overall honours.
But Langman, sailing two-handed with a good mate Peter Inchbold on the tiny wooden 30-footer Kismet built half a century ago, reckons he might also have some time in the sun - or rain as it may be across Bass Strait and down the east coast of Tasmania given how well it rates in the overall race.
“It’s the darkhorse of the fleet,’’ said Langman of his restored 1950s Illingworth & Penrose sloop, one of 23 entries in the two-handed division where sailors will get less sleep and be exposed to more weather than any boats in the 100 plus fleet.
“It’s actually incredibly light displacement, incredibly brilliant design,” Langman said.
While the second oldest in the fleet, Kismet still has plenty of hi tech electronics to help he and Inchbold be competitive against fully crewed yachts.
“It looks like an aircraft down below as far as software goes and hardware goes which could pose a challenge,’’ Langman said.
“Neither of us are people who know how to adjust our mobile phone, so I don’t know how that’s going to go.
“We were watching some video over the weekend on how to navigate with modern equipment.”
Langman said he hopes to coax 12 knots of speed out of his timber beauty.
“Not that I have ever seen her do that yet but that’s what we hope for,’’ he said.
Vila and crewmates on Master Lock Comanche in contrast will hit speeds more that three times this in running and reaching conditions.
This yacht holds the current race record in the Sydney to Hobart of one day nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds back in 2017 under a former skipper.
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