Sydney to Hobart yacht race history, superstitions, celebrities, controversies
The drink of choice, strange superstitions, weird thing that happened to Jessica Watson at sea and how the race is getting shorter. The wild, wacky, wonderful side of the Sydney to Hobart.
News
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Why sailors drink rum, why they hat a particular fruit, strange superstitions, the role of women, how the race is getting shorter and the perils of wildlife at sea.
Here’s an insiders look at what goes on in the race, some of its traditions, dramas, controversies and testing times on the high seas.
The Sydney to Hobart is one of the most famous ocean races in the world and we take a deep dive into its long history and come up with some strange - and fishy - tales.
Here is the weird, wild, wacky and wonderful side of the famous Sydney to Hobart yacht race which started on Boxing Day. FOLLOW LIVE HERE
WHY A SUPERMODEL IS PART OF SYDNEY TO HOBART HISTORY
It took a famous Aussie supermodel to rewrite history as the first female co-owner to claim line honours in the Sydney to Hobart.
Kristy Hinze Clark, who co-owned the US supermaxi Comanche with husband Jim Clark, achieved the feat back in 2015.
Interestingly the first female on a line honours winner was on another US boat with Olympian Dawn Riley aboard Larry Ellison’s Sayonara in the deadly 1998.
LUCKIEST MAN IN SYDNEY TO HOBART HISTORY
This title has to go to John Quinn who was washed overboard his yacht MEM back in the 1994 Sydney to Hobart.
In a piece of freakishly good luck, a light off the tanker Ampol Sorell, which has been alerted to the missing sailor, picked up the reflective tabs on his new sailing wet weather jacket and he was located.
His position was radioed to a fleet and he was rescued by another yacht.
UNLUCKIEST SAILOR IN SYDNEY TO HOBART HISTORY
Well, that could have been John Quinn as well.
After surviving more than five hours in the water after falling overboard the yacht which collected him had its own major issues.
Atara had lost her mast in the vile conditions and was taking on water herself.
But Quin’s good luck returned when he and the crew limped safely to port.
WHY DO SAILORS CELEBRATE WITH RUM
This drink of choice for a sailor at race end is rum – preferably mixed with coke and by the jugful.
This tradition – now abandoned – dated back to the Royal Navy handing out a daily rum ration. Beer didn’t last as well when it was hot and humid.
NEW WIND BLOWS IN CHANGE
For the first time in history – and 77 years after the first race – two-handed boats will be eligible to win the coveted overall handicap honours in the Sydney to Hobart.
The two-handed sailing division made its debut a year ago but were restrained from vying for the overall honours.
Race officials have since changed the rules.
In a wonderfully wacky scenario, this means a little yacht sailed by two people could feasibly beat a multimillion-dollar super maxi with up to 25 people on board for the all-important handicap honours.
WET AND VERY WILD
Sometimes the Sydney to Hobart can be a bit like a wildlife safari.
And in some cases boats and sea and wild life can get way too close for comfort.
Numerous yachts have ploughed into giant sunfish which sit just below the water surface and are often hard to see.
But they can cause major damage with rudders torn off, keel damage and other dramas.
Other sailors have reported hitting sharks – then having to stop the boat and dive underneath to free from the keel – whales and even containers than have fallen off commercial ships.
JESSICA WATSON’S SMACKDOWN
There are many strange stories in the Sydney to Hobart and one was told by round the world sailor Jessica Watson after she competed in the race when just 18.
Watson was racing her own boat when she got the shock off her life.
A flying fish had leapt out the water and smacked her hard in the face and head.
Not only did it hurt, it stank.
BEARDED SAILORS
Normally clean shaven men often turn up on start day unshaven or with a newly grown beard.
Having whiskers goes some way to protect a sailor’s face from sunburn and salty skin rash.
It also helps prevent the rubbing off of skin on the collars of wet weather jackets.
Women generally just use sunscreen and vaseline.
WHY YELLOW BENDY THINGS FREAK SAILORS OUT
Superstitious or not, most sailors won't have a bar of a banana on-board.
They are seen as bad luck and can get blamed for just about any mishap on a boat.
The superstition about it being bad luck to have them aboard probably dates back to the days of the square riggers which carried food for months on end.
Bannans are know to ripen other foods and could cause other food to turn bad.
STUDENTS SPECIAL RECORD
Four years ago Julia Cooney set the record for the youngest female on a line honours winner. But it came after a controversy with Wild Oats incurring a time penalty for a rule infraction which saw them crash out of first place.
Cooney, 20, then a medical student, was aboard her fathers 100-footer LDV Comanche in the race.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Everybody has a different cooking situation. From metho burners to ovens and stove tops. This means the menu for different boats is vastly different.
Most of the races will start off the fresh food – or in some cases a tub of fried chicken – and then switch to freeze dried food for a quick easy to prepare meal.
Others will enjoy such things as bacon rolls, quiches, toasties, pies, curries, stews and even baked dinners during the race.
The lucky ones are able to keeps it all down.
WHY DRY BOATS ARE SO WET
They might be very wet but yachts heading to a Hobart are mostly “dry boats”.
This means skippers have banned alcohol aboard for the trip south.
Once in Hobart it is tradition to celebrate a sailors arrival with a jug – or 10 – of rum and coke at a dockside watering hole.
It's also a tradition for a sailor not to chance out of their racing clothes which can be challenging for other patrons.
WHY A SYDNEY TO HOBART WIN IS PRICELESS
This race is for live, not money. Not a single cent.
In fact it can cost up to $1 millions for a supermaxi to seriously campaign for a win in the bluewater classic.
Skippers and owners pay for the privilege of competing and most crews continue for food, drink and pay for their own clothing and safety gear.
The only reward if they do really well – a piece of silverware along with personal satisfaction.
WHY A SAILOR WILL GO CRAZY IF THEY HEAR WHISTLING
Don’t Whistle While You Work ever while you work or sail on a boat.
Some superstitious tales believe you can whistle up a storm and ban it on boats.
It is seen as bad lucky as it challenges the wind to pick up speed.
WHY RACE HAS GOT LONGER
The race is now officially 628 nautical miles in distance.
But not that long ago it was 632.
The disparity is simply because GPS has got better and so the reading is more accurate now.
Interestingly, sailors can travel almost double this distance to get to Hobart as the tack and gybe their way south.
WOMEN ON WATER
Around 100 women will be in the fleet this year. In fact women have been competing since 1946, juts a year after the inaugural event.
Jenny Tate made it to Hobart and so a trophy was struck in her honour and awarded to the first female skipper to dock each.
WHY AGE IS A BARRIER
In the wake of the deadly 1998 race which claimed six lives a raft of safety rules were introduced, including a minimum age of 18 for sailors.
But prior to this a four-year-old is known to have been on a race yacht.
HOW SAILING MAKES YOU SICK
It’s the strangest thing with some sailors that when they are on land they almost immediately forget how truly awful they felt at sea.
But at sea, seasick sailors say they first fear they are going to die. Then they feat they are not.
This debilitating malady affects both newbies and veterans.
There are numerous ways to help prevent the seasickness including not eating citrusy or acidic food before the race and during it.
Some old salts swear by a wide belt.
And while medications helps some they have been sales have been known to do the entire race on a handful of dry biscuits.
WILDEST RACE
It triggered the biggest peacetime maritime rescue in Australia – the deadly 1998 Sydney to Hobart.
A Bass Strait bomb in the form of a deep depression exploded over the fleet, causing widespread mayhem.
In all 24 boats were abandoned or written off and 55 sailors were rescued.
Just 44 of the 115 starting yachts made it to Hobart with 71 sinking, abandoned or retiring.
British Olympic sailor Glyn Charles died after being swept overboard from the Sydney yacht Sword of Orion.
The old timber yacht Winston Churchill sank the second day of the race, Mike Bannister, Jim Lawler and John Dean form her crew are believed to have perished that night when their life raft fell apart.
Business Post Naiad skipper Bruce Guy died of a suspected heart attack and crewmate Phil Skeggs from injuries sustained when their boat rolled in the storm.
The sons of Dean, Peter and Nathan, are racing on Andoo Comanche in his memory this year.
WONDERFUL RECORD
The 100-footer Wild Oats has undergone countless refits and reconstructions to keep her up to speed since her launch back in 2005.
She now holds the record as the most successful yacht in the race.
Wild Oats X11 is chasing her 10th line honours win in 2022.
She also has two overall wins and held the race record.
That honour now belongs to LDV Comanche which made it to Hobart in 2018 in one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds.
I’M A CELEBRITY, GET ME ON A BOAT
For such a sporting challenge the Sydney to Hobart has a long list of celebrities who have done the race, including future British PM Edward Heath, controversial entrepreneur Alan Bond, the Prince grandson of Grace Kelly, the founder of Skye Niklas Zennstrom, software billionaires Larry Ellison and Hasso Plattner and a host of sport stars including surfers Mark Occhilupo, Layne Beachley, NRL gun Anthony Minichiello, cricketer Michael Clarke, boxer Danny Green and television personalities including Larry Emdur and Karl Stefanovic.
AGE REALLY DOES MATTER
Prior to 1998 anyone of any age could compete in the Sydney to Hobart with a 4-year-old sailing with her family in one event.
But from 1999 onwards sailors must be 18 on the day of the race to be eligible to compete.
This was one of a raft of rule changes introduced in the wake of the deadly 1998 Sydney to Hobart which came to live six hours.
DAVID AND GOLIATH
It’s one of the interesting things about sailing -the fact a boat less than a third the size of its rivals has the ability to win the race overall.
It also means that an old wooden boat could actually beat a state of the art racer.
More Coverage
Originally published as Sydney to Hobart yacht race history, superstitions, celebrities, controversies
Emails, letters reveal details on Van Dairy’s big tax fight
Lawyers for the State’s Revenue Office set their case on Friday, reading to a Hobart court Van Dairy company letters and emails. What the letters said about the company’s business plans >
How close is the Tasmanian tiger’s return
The race to bring the Tasmanian tiger back to life is heating up after a scientific breakthrough has completed 99.9 per cent of the puzzle. Here’s why.