| 628 nautical miles, three minutes between them. |
| By Jim Gale, Sydney Hobart media team. |
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Photos by
Daniel Forster and Carlo Borlenghi for Rolex,
Story and page edited By Peter Andrews. |
| 12:30 AEDT, December 29,
2010. |
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| The images of this year’s Sydney Hobart that will haunt the dreams of Stephen Ainsworth, the skipper of the Reichel Pugh 63 Loki, will not be the 40 plus knot winds, nor the big green seas cascading down the deck from 6 metre seas. It will be the surreal quiet of a patch of Bass Strait where there was, unbelievably, not a breath of wind. That is where Loki found herself in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and where Ainsworth watched the race slip from his grasp. |
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Stephen Ainsworth's Reichel Pugh 63 Loki, approaching the Organ Pipes
during the 2010 Sydney Hobart.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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"We had a wonderful start out of the harbour and had done everything right," he lamented a few minutes after tying up in Hobart on Wednesday morning following their 10.33am finish.
For a day and a half Loki had weathered the gales with no more damage other than "we blew out the dunny door". They had a solid lead over arch rival and virtual sistership, Alan Brierty’s Reichel Pugh 62 Limit, and had lead on handicap for much of the race. And then, in Bass Strait of all places, Loki found a place to park. |
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Alan Brierty's Reichel-Pugh 62 Limit and Stephen Ainsworth's Reichel
Pugh 63 Loki meet, near the Organ Pipes during the 2010 Sydney Hobart.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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| "We didn’t decide to park, we had no choice in the matter. It was incredibly frustrating. We just had to sit there and watch everyone catch us. We were sitting around and as we realised what was happening we thought we hate this race", Ainsworth smiled ruefully. "Limit was 14 miles behind us at the previous sked and we had to sit and watch as she came up over the horizon and sail around us and end up 4 or 5 miles ahead. They made up 20 miles on us while we were sitting there." |
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Alan Brierty's Reichel-Pugh 62 Limit with the Iron Pot Lighthouse in
the background right, marking the entrance of the Derwent River.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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For Ainsworth this was far harder to endure than any Bass Strait gale. When the breeze finally kicked back in, the Loki-Limit match race was back on. At stake was a bet involving a quite substantial amount of rum and coke between the rival skippers, not to mention the Tattersall’s Cup. The two yachts would haunt each other down the Tasmanian coast, and tack neck and neck up the Derwent River to the finish line.
Not that the wind gods had finished toying with the 60 footers in Bass Strait. On Tuesday afternoon they conjured a big expanse of cloud and no wind across race track off the Tasmanian coast. |
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Stephen Ainsworth's Reichel Pugh 63 Loki, out on the Tasman Sea
during the 2010 Sydney Hobart.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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"We hit the wall, going from 13 knots to zero," said Limit tactician Chris Dickson. "We spent the whole day trying to break through the cloud band but there was no way through. The big boats were ahead enough to get through before the hole and by the time the 50 footers caught up with us the breeze filled back in."
The 2010 Sydney Hobart was not to be a 60 foot year after all, "but that’s ocean racing" Dickson mused. Still, there
was the matter of the rum.
"We fought really hard and we were right next to Limit when we came around Tasman Island," says Ainsworth, "but we
got caught in a lull behind Cape Raoul and that was the end. Limit just got away. It’s been one of those races I’m afraid." |
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Alan Brierty's Reichel Pugh 62 Limit, off the New South Wales
south coast, during the 2010 Sydney Hobart.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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In the end Limit finished just three minutes ahead of Loki. "We’ve beaten them in our last two outings now," Brierty declared, "though they did give us a hiding in the Rolex Trophy."
Brierty was full of praise for his crew, and especially his four former America’s Cup professionals, Chris Dickson, Jamie Gale, Gavin Brady and Rodney Keenan.
"My wife goes crook about the dough I pay, but these four are champions. You can’t race these boats without them. These four have all done Volvo races and there were times this race when I felt I was in a Volvo race, I’ll tell you." |
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Stephen Ainsworth's Reichel Pugh 63 Loki, approaching the Organ
Pipes during the 2010 Sydney Hobart.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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For Chris Dickson, this it’s just been a normal day at the office. "You have a lovely, glorious start with a spinnaker in Sydney and a lovely, glorious finish with sunshine in Hobart, and in between is the ugliest bit of ocean in the world."
For further information about the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, go to: www.rolexsydneyhobart.com. The race can also be followed on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/rshyr. |
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| Outimage and Rolex © 2010 |
