Sea of uncertainty

“The CYCA is continuing preparations for the 2020 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on very much a business-as-usual basis,” CYCA Commodore Paul Billingham told Sails.

“The current situation in relation to COVID-19 in Australia and across the world is dynamic – we’re working with a number of parties to stage the Rolex Sydney Hobart in the most appropriate way possible.

“As a leader in our sport, it is important that the CYCA does the right thing in regard to running the 2020 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, with the health and safety of competitors, fans, staff, our partners, other stakeholders and the community in general, the number-one priority.”

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia plans on holding an AGM on 25 August, albeit in a modified format, and are hoping to provide clarification on their racing program in October when the outlook is potentially a little clearer.

Newcastle sailor Michael Martin, owner of the TP52 Frantic, is still optimistic the race will take place. He said, “Everyone is waiting to get a sail in; it’s an iconic event that we all want to go ahead.

“There are a lot of variables at the moment though; everything is out of our control. The next two weeks will hopefully give us an indication of where we are at with the pandemic.

“Fingers crossed people take notice and follow the guidelines. I have a feeling it’s not over by a long shot.”

Martin concluded, “At the end of the day, sailing is only a sport and the first priority is people’s safety.”

Tasmania’s borders remain closed following the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Victoria, with Premier Peter Gutwein confirming that the state would be closed until at least 31 August.

“Getting a thousand sailors into Hobart and on to Constitution Dock all following the proper guidelines would be a task in itself,” says Martin.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, as well as joint organisers the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, are fighting the battle on many fronts with so much planning up in the air due to the shifting nature of border restrictions and health policies.

For Joe Akacich, supermaxi InfoTrack skipper and Southport Yacht Club sailor, the biggest logistical challenge is sourcing experienced crew to sail the Juan-K designed 100-footer.

With current international travel restrictions in place, Akacich says they will struggle to find enough overseas crew to take part and may have to rely on a purely domestic crew.

Akacich notes, “InfoTrack is a man-eater; she is quite hard to handle because she has got such big loads. We tend to use ten to fifteen pro sailors every year from all over the world.”

“Even if I were able to bring some crew to Australia right now, with the current restrictions we would have to budget an additional 28 days to allow them to self-isolate before and afterwards.”

“My program is entirely financially dependent. To run a campaign for a 100-footer to do the Hobart costs around $1 million by the time we leave the dock, do all our training, buy a sail or two, plus airfares and accommodation. It’s a big ask.”

Time is of the essence for a supermaxi campaign and Joe, along with his fellow maxi skippers, are counting down the days to the starting gun. Big decisions are going to need to be made if they are to enter the race.

“We really need to do fifteen training sessions to be prepared for a race like this. The boat needs to be requalified because none of us did the Southport Race, and to qualify for the Rolex Sydney Hobart, we need to do 200 nautical miles or 24 hours at sea. We haven’t been able to sail anywhere since restrictions came into effect.”

“We would need a commitment that the race will go ahead by the middle of October because it would take some time to find crew, and we lean hard on guys from The Ocean Race.”

Whether organisers of Australia’s toughest offshore race will be able to forge ahead with the running of its 76^th edition remains to be seen, but they can be assured that plenty of the nation’s sailors will be raring to go, as evidenced by the 54 yachts already entered.

rolexsydneyhobart.com