Sydney to Hobart yacht race favourites get boasting rights in 2023 Big Boat Challenge, photos
He’s a fiercely competitive sailor but Sydney to Hobart supermaxi skipper David Witt wasn't fazed by not winning the Big Boat Challenge - as long as it doesn’t happen in his next outing.
There’s an old saying in the Sydney to Hobart that you can’t win the famous race in Sydney Harbour but you sure can lose it - on Boxing Day or in a lead-up race.
It’s why Scallywag skipper David Witt was breathing a sign of relief after surviving the annual SOLAS Big Boat Challenge without crew injury, sail damage or too much drama in a brilliant nor’easterly which saw Christian Beck’s LawConnect romp to the line honours victory.
The annual race is the final time the line honours favourites - and some of the overall contenders - match up against each others before the start of the Sydney to Hobart on December 26.
And it has a chequered history of sail, boat and crew damage.
In an early race a sailor had to have surgery to reattach his finger after an incident with a winch - the same day another sailor on the harbour - not connected to the race - was struck by lighting.
Witt himself was involved in a shocking near collision with a boat monitoring spectator traffic in a frightening incident just a few years back.
Witt said at the time he was “just inches’’ from hitting this boat and a spectator ferry and it being race over for the yacht.
Others boats have returned to shore with a litany of damage, from torn spinnakers and mainsails to hydraulic or equipment issues which have forced them to race against the clock to be back ready for the start of the Sydney to Hobart.
But on Tuesday, on a sunny and spectacularly blue Sydney Harbour and aside from some issues with electrics he is confident of resolving before the Hobart start - Witt and his team made it through the Big Boat Challenge relatively unscathed.
The race is held annually to raise money for the Safety of Life At Sea Trust established in the wake of the deadly 1998 Sydney to Hobart which claimed six lives.
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It was also plain sailing for LawConnect which claimed line honours from John “Herman’ Winning’s Andoo Comanche and Scallywag, with the 100-footers reaching speeds in excess of 50km/h at times.
LawConnect also won the Australian maxi championships with her Tuesday victory.
David Griffiths 62-footer Whisper was an early retirement, sent home with a broken rudder block.
“Better it happens now than 50nm off Green Cape (entrance to Bass Strait) I guess,’’ said Sydney sailor Sam Hunt.
“This wasn’t about winning for us, it was about testing,” said Witt as Scallywag completed just her third race since a major overhaul which took around 15 months and saw the 100-footer miss last year’s race for her much needed spruce up.
“We just haven’t had enough time for enough racing. The Cabbage Tree Island race on the weekend was pretty much our first in two years and we finished third.
“We had some system problems, engine issues, on Sunday so missed that day and then came back on Monday and won a race (in the Australian maxi championships).
“This for us today was about getting more time together.’’
The harbour performance - and third placing - has still confirmed Scallywag as one of the major contenders for the line honours in the Sydney to Hobart on Boxing Day.
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