Swell times as Sydney to Hobart heroics loom for bowman

Sailing a supermaxi isn’t for wimps but, as any experienced sailor will tell you, one role is the toughest of the lot.

Ben ‘Nipper’ Piggott has spent the past three years sailing the globe aboard the supermaxi SHK Scallywag. Picture: John Feder

Sailing a supermaxi in the Sydney-Hobart yacht race is not a job for wimps but, as any experienced sailor will tell you, the toughest job aboard is the role of bowman.

The bowman not only has to keep his footing on the narrow fore­deck as waves sweep over the bow — he is also the bloke ordered to climb up the towering mast if anything needs fixing.

Being more than 30m above the foaming waters of Bass Strait in a 40-knot gale while clinging to a carbon fibre mast that is whipping back and forth calls for extraordinary strength and skills.

But it is a job that 24-year-old Sydneysider Ben “Nipper” Piggott loves. He has spent the past three years sailing around the world aboard Seng Huang Lee’s SHK Scallywag and is now looking forward to adding the John Illingworth trophy for Hobart line honours to the vast collection of silverware the yacht has gathered during its world tour.

Nipper will be perched on the bow of Scallywag on Thursday afternoon, clinging to the forestay, acting as the eyes of the yacht as it battles in the run to the Sydney heads with four other 100-foot ­supermaxis — Wild Oats XI, ­Comanche, InfoTrack and Black Jack — to gain bragging rights for being the first of the 157 starters to reach the open sea.

Scallywag was forced to retire last year with a broken bowsprit but, after repairs, she took line honours in the Antigua-to-Bermuda and the Transatlantic races. She smashed the record for the Hong Kong to Philippines race by more than 15 hours and was second to American George David’s ocean racer Rambler 88 in the Rolex Fastnet race.

Piggott, who was born just south of Sydney and started sailing with the Cronulla Sailing Club as a kid, thinks the yacht can pull off a surprise this year.

“We have a great team that skipper David Witt has put together,” he said. “We have a few first-timers but I’ve done five Hobarts and Witty has done 23.”

Witt is less than happy with the race committee’s use of old-fashioned radio technology in the age of satellite telephones. He wrote to the committee on Monday suggesting that he be allowed to ­report on Scallywag’s condition at the start of the Bass Strait crossing by satellite telephone rather than radio, as required by the race rules.

Witt said he pointed out to the race committee that bushfire smoke could interfere with radio transmissions, leaving some yachts unable to check in correctly and be unfairly disqualified.

“These blokes are still using technology from 40 years ago,” Witt thundered. “We carry a sat phone. Why can’t we use it?” As of Wednesday, the CYCA said radio reporting regulations stood.

The fleet of 157 yachts is the largest to start in the 628 nautical mile race for more than a decade. The line-honours record for the race was set by Comanche in 2017 at one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds but that record is unlikely to be challenged this year.

The light wind forecast for the first two days of the race and the strong northeasterly that will then reach the yachts at the rear of the fleet should give many of the smaller yachts in the 40-foot range a chance of winning on handicap.

Among the handicap favourites are Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban, which won two years ago, and Phillip Turner’s Alive, which was a surprise winner last year.