LawConnect victorious

Late last night, at 11.10pm, Race Liaison advised that LawConnect had rounded Tasman Island, when her navigator, Christopher Lewis, gave an ETA at the finish line of 02.45am this morning.

On board were all but one of last year’s victorious sailing crew along with Beck’s usual few from his business, each given the priceless opportunity of taking part in one of Australia’s greatest sporting events.

According to Kiwi sailing master Tony Mutter, a strong team performance by the crew was the foundation for LawConnect’s 2024 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Line Honours.

He said there was only one change in Christian Beck’s crew from last year’s race.

“Crew continuity is a big help for us, especially if you know how everyone’s going to react in a situation, that makes a massive difference,” Mutter said, adding that it came to the fore on the first night, which he said was the toughest part of the race, “executing five gybes in 35 to 40 knots winds”.

“For us, 35 to 40 knots is about the upper end where we’re pushing it, but right on the limit,” he said of the race hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

“So, we had to execute those five manoeuvres in a really good way – and we did.

“Much more than that (speed) we’re in a different mode, where we’re probably reducing sail a lot more and slowing the boat down, whereas in the in the 35 to 40 range, we’re right on the upper limit on what we can do on that boat.”

He said the race was one of the tougher ones he had sailed in, but knew there had been much tougher.

“There was challenging conditions, probably the roughest race I’ve done out of the 11 that I’ve done. But we came through okay, we didn’t break too much stuff, and people are okay, just got a few bumps and bruises.

“I have done much tougher races though – around the world.”

It was a wild ride out of Sydney, he continued. “All the way to Green Cape and a little bit beyond for us,” he said. “There were big waves, there’s always a lot of counter currents down there, which change the direction of the waves.

“You’ve got to keep on your toes, and then afterwards, once the front rolled through, we obviously had a big push from the west, which added another challenge, where we had to basically slow down for about four or five hours.”

Asked about the withdrawal of rival, Master Lock Comanche, Mutter said they knew “something was up”.

“I could see them when we both gybed pretty much at the similar time. So, we knew that we were closing without actually having any data on that. So, I figured they had some issue. But, I mean, it’s not easy to gybe one of these 100 footers. We had to do it five times. Luckily, we came through okay.”

Mutter said LawConnect wasn’t without its own mishaps.

“As you saw when we went out of the Heads, led out of there, we then made a rookie error with trying to unfurl the wrong side of the sail, which created a problem. But the rest of it after that, we had to re-evaluate, rethink, just think ahead and just double check everything, and go from there. And after that it went pretty well.”

He said he never felt that slip which let Comanche take the lead out of the Heads was going to cost them the race.

“They were going to come past us anyway,” he said.

“They’re way faster, probably going 3 or 4 knots faster in those conditions.

“So, we were just like waiting for the night time where we could use our skill, close in and try and be close to them for the remainder of the race,” he said.

Mutter said he never believed the race record was a target.

“I never actually thought we’d ever get it even before the start. From what I saw on the forecast, there was no chance. Because especially once we had to slow down, once the front rolled over and we had to go across Bass Strait, we were slowing down just to save the hull,” Mutter said.

As for another tilt at the event next year: “Absolutely”.

Mutter was addressing the assembled media dockside at 3.24am in the absence of owner Christian Beck.

“Unfortunately, Christian has a stomach bug. He’s somehow given himself food poisoning, I think,” Mutter said. “He just got off the boat right at the end, and he’s had to go to the hotel. He’s quite sick.”

Mutter said in consideration of the circumstances around the race, there were no celebrations on the boat.

“We’ll do that quietly later on,” he said.

Celestial V70, the Volvo Open 70, better known as Willow and chartered by CYCA Commodore, Sam Haynes, is the next yacht due over the line. The 70 footer, tailor made for the conditions in this race, was just over 20 nautical miles behind LawConnect when the latter crossed the finish line.

Celestial V70 is also the current overall leader of the race, with LawConnect sitting in second place. Grant Wharington’s 100 footer, Wild Thing 100, with her short rig, is the third boat due into Hobart where the crowds are gathered on the water and ashore. The Queensland yacht is presently placed third overall.

Follow the rest of the fleet via the RSHYR Yacht Tracker.

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