Source : ABC NEWS
Onboard Sydney to Hobart racer Wild Thing 100, skipper Grant Wharington painted a vivid picture of the weather conditions.
In a video posted to social media on Friday morning, Mr Wharington said it was “pretty uncomfortable out here”.
“Bouncing off plenty of waves, very noisy,” he said.
“Almost impossible to get to the bathroom, people in bunks trying to get to sleep but no one can get any sleep.”
Wild Thing almost toppled within the first hour of this year’s race. (Supplied: Rolex / Salty Dingo)
Friday morning was a tragic one for the Sydney to Hobart.
Two competitors died in two separate incidents after being struck by the sail boom of their yacht, the first deaths since the 1998 race.
A crew member onboard Porco Rosso was also swept overboard just after 3am, but found by rescue crews 1.2 nautical miles away from the boat.
Another three boats retired after being “demasted”, while two more pulled out following main sail damage.
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Vice Commodore David Jacobs said the wind conditions were in line with the Bureau of Meteorology’s forecast of strong to gale force winds, adding that the boats were built to handle them.
“They’re ocean racers. They’re used to those winds. It was not extreme conditions,” Mr Jacobs said.
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An ambulance crew attends the scene where Flying Fish Arctos is moored in Batemans Bay, NSW. (ABC News)
Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) forecaster Stephen Stefanac said it was impossible to know what wind gusts crews had experienced on the water, but wind gusts of up to 80 kph had been detected at Gabo Island, just before 4am.
80 kph is in the strong winds range, falling just 10 kph short of severe.
“It’s pretty strong … and it’s an indication of the type of winds we’ve got out there,” he said.
“When we see pretty strong along the coast, then we’re pretty sure that it’s even stronger winds offshore, out there.”
The Sydney to Hobart is widely considered to be one of the most difficult yacht races in the world. (Supplied: Andrea Francolini)
Mr Stefanac said a maximum wave height of 5 metres at Batemans Bay also provided an indication of “big, large waves out there”.
“It’s normal for these conditions to get waves that height but most of the time we don’t have winds this strong out there,” he said.
Conditions ‘toughest I’ve seen’
Before the race, skippers of the three leading SuperMaxis vying for line honours were bracing for wild weather.
“These conditions are probably the worst forecast I’ve ever had to go through”, said Christian Beck, skipper of reigning line honours champion LawConnect.
“The odds of boat damage are obviously very high.”
Speaking on Friday morning, Mr Beck said the conditions had lived up to his expectations.
“The toughest I’ve seen. Very very windy and reasonable seas,” he said.
“And we’re sort of still in pretty big seas.”
LawConnect’s main rival for line honours, Master Lock Comanche, had been leading the race, but retired after experiencing main sail damage.
Master Lock Comanche’s main sail suffered damage, resulting in a retirement. (Getty Images: Brendon Thorne)
Pre-race, Comanche had hoped the strong north-easterly winds early in the race would make breaking the race record a possibility, but co-skipper James Mayo had his sights set on a different goal.
“Our job is to get there in one piece, get the boat there in one piece and hopefully get there first,” he said on Tuesday.
His co-skipper Matt Allen had also stressed the importance of handling whatever the weather threw at the crew.
“People don’t sail in these conditions very regularly so you’re just not quite sure which bit’s going to hang together and which bit’s not and the speeds are going to be pretty fast,” Allen said.
“It’s going to be challenging.”
Porco Rosso retired after a person fell overboard and drifted 1.2 nautical miles from the boat. (Supplied: Bow Caddy Media)
