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M

masai

Brownlow Medallist
Veteran 10k Posts WAFL Tipping Champion
Jan 18, 2002
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A bay at Rotto
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Fremantle
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East Rottnest
The fleet is preparing for this years "rockin & roll " to Hobart.

I feel this race has become a bit more pumped up with commercialization, but feel that it has lost a whole division of boats in the race to satisfy the "mega wallets".

Back in the 70's & 80's, there was a very strong Division of 30 footers. Boats like the Currawong 30, East Coast 31, Plum Crazy, Endeavour 30 etc, made up the back end of the fleet, but were happy to spend more time at sea, but enjoy the comradeship.

This year I struggled to find boats entered smaller than the Sydney 38. Sailors like Sean Langman (sp) have shown the spirit, that may be missing now ?.

Water Ballast, engine driven winches, 30 metre long boats etc, mmmmmmmmm to me it seems they opened the front door to allow these "technology advances" and at the same time, drop kicked the tenacious small boats out the back door.
 
My brother won line honours on a 98 foot Supermaxi and has sailed in smaller boats, like Farr 40's & Reichel/Pugh's 46's. Competition is as intense at the smaller level than the Supermaxi's.

The battle between Commanche & the newly modified WildOatsXI should be epic.
 

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2016 gets underway in a couple of hours, hard to go past Wild Oats for line honours but I'm drawn to CQS, check out the bow in the attached
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/sailing...hintze-and-ludde-ingvall-20161222-gtgktv.html
or
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/nati...dney-hobart-maxi-cqs-has-mast-re-stepped.html
or
http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/the-yachts/2016/cqs/

My skills don't run to posting a photo, :) , apologies !

Other maxis include Perpetual Loyal & Scallywag (formerly Ragamuffin 100).

want to track any of the fleet:
http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/tracker/

Outright my tip is Paul Clitheroe on the aptly named Balance to repeat the 2015 win.

Be safe !!
 
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Mark Richards stuffed up the start really badly, all those engines and technology, and he started at the wrong end !!!!!!. Weekend racers could have done better. Well done by Loyal, sails better without the "celebrities".

As stated above, I'm not a fan of the boats crewed by "diesel mechanics".

Hope that Maluka, has a good rock & roll run, plus Landfall makes the distance.

CQR looks like she still needs 6 months more testing, might turn out really well, but it's a bit early.
 
CQR, the incident in the harbour, was due to them having to tack quickly and their engine STALLED !!!!. Says it all when a yacht is layed on its side, due to engine failure.

Wild Oats out due to hydraulics failure, ........................... well at least it wasn't keel bolts failing.

Storm Bay awaits them, ready for ambush.
 
The financial adviser for the Wild Oats XI organisation will be scratching their head, pay all the money in the world for a bunch of top line sailors, .................. but forget to recruit a sailor who knows the basic port & starboard rules !!!!!.

A 9 year old sailing a Sabot knows the rules.

Muscle powered sailors >>>>>>>>>> hydraulics.
 

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eth-dog said:
For a n00b like me, what sort of penalty can Wild Oates XI expect?
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Should get a small time penalty. Was guilty as hell !!!!.

In normal club racing, a boat that did the infringing, would acknowledge they were in the wrong, and then when in the clear, perform a 720 turn. That would clear any need for a protest.

Just remember that elite sports people are known for their ego's, ............................ I never do wrong !!!!!. Do the 720 turn and there would have been no need for the protest.
 
masai said:
Should get a small time penalty. Was guilty as hell !!!!.

In normal club racing, a boat that did the infringing, would acknowledge they were in the wrong, and then when in the clear, perform a 720 turn. That would clear any need for a protest.

Just remember that elite sports people are known for their ego's, ............................ I never do wrong !!!!!. Do the 720 turn and there would have been no need for the protest.
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Got that right masai :thumbsu:
 
Kwality said:
One hour penalty.
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Comanche might hold the record but Wild Oats XI will always know that their time was quicker. It’s like Ben Johnson being disqualified from the 1988 Olympics and his time of 9.79 seconds for 100m was not recognised. However, it stayed in the Guinness Book of Records as the fastest time ever until it was broken.
 
That was amazing.
Never really cared for it but was fascinated by that finish and the circumstances ( Comanche heading further off shore on the run down the Tassie coast + the Derwent doing what it obviously does at that hour )

Imagine that feeling on Comanche after having it all but won to stop dead cold in the water and watch your rival crawl past at the slowest possible speed :eek::poo:

Edit - coverage of the finish was a debacle , i got the best updates from twitter ffs
 
Lebbo73 said:
Comanche might hold the record but Wild Oats XI will always know that their time was quicker. It’s like Ben Johnson being disqualified from the 1988 Olympics and his time of 9.79 seconds for 100m was not recognised. However, it stayed in the Guinness Book of Records as the fastest time ever until it was broken.
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Roll on 2018.
 
Kwality said:
Like to see Grant Wharington snaffle another line honours in a smaller (80') boat, topple the big boats.
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I’ve stated it elsewhere, that the crewing on some of maxi’s, left a lot to be desired. Very poor sailhanding at times.

Love the Double Handlers, jack of all trade skills.

I’m keeping a close eye on the Navy v Army battle.
 
Caesar said:
Anyone know what the potential infringement was that caused Wild Oats to do their turns? Couldn’t work it out
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'There was yelling and swearing on various boats with a long debate on Wild Oats between skipper Mark Richards and a member of his brains trust before he opted to do their penalty turn.

“Furl, furl, we are going to do a 720 (penalty turn),’’ Richards eventually yelled to his team.

Wild Oats, which had a close call with another yacht soon after the start in 2017, was hit with a one hour penalty at race end which saw her dethroned as the line honours winner. This honour instead went to LDV Comanche who is also recorded as the race record holder.'


So Richards was being careful.
 
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