Storms Slam Yacht Race

The unexpected severe weather our world has been experiencing this year has left citizens in awe. Eight yachts pulled out of the Sydney to Hobart ocean race down Australia’s southeast coast Monday, as gale-force winds battered the fleet led by four-time line honours winner Wild Oats XI. Little did these boats know that the boat race would turn into a fight for their lives.

Boat Shipping companies and vendors prepared for the spectacle that was the race by transporting the boats and the vendors offered the essentials.

The drama-filled day followed thunderstorms and hail overnight, and two crewmen on the YuuZoo falling into the swell on Sunday.

Strong southerly winds and steep waves have already ended hopes of a record time for the 628-nautical mile dash from Sydney to the Tasmanian capital Hobart and officials said that winds reached up to 50 knots in the Bass Strait.

Yachts were facing three- to four-metre waves and high winds as they worked their way down the coast, a media spokeswoman for the race told AFP.

“When you’ve got the two together it’s like a washing machine,” she said.

But she said the conditions had been expected and, while difficult, were unlike those during the deadly 1998 race, in which five yachts sank and six people died.

Seventy-eight boats are still in the race after Jazz Player pulled out on Sunday after tearing her mainsail in strong winds.

Organizers said they were pleased with how the yachts handled the challenging overnight conditions.

“I’m pretty happy with it so far,” Commodore Garry Linacre of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia said.

“To have a first night where a front comes through like that, a strong, typical New South Wales east coast front and have 86 out of 87 boats in the race is very good statistically.”

But the situation changed Monday afternoon when five boats retired within an hour as the fleet struck fierce winds, and three more later withdrew.

Another vessel, the 66-foot She is taking a crew member to the coastal town of Eden for treatment after he suffered a head injury. The boat has not retired from the race.

The first to retire Monday was Swish, which reported a broken radio and was quickly followed by the highly rated YuuZoo which the day before had reported two crew overboard.

“Greg Homann and Will Mueller spent about 10 minutes having an unauthorised swim. Both are well and in good spirits,” skipper Ludde Ingvall said.

“The two guys were basically hanging on to the sail as it was taken away from the boat, as it was flapping they both landed in the water.”

But that was not the end of the yacht’s troubles, with the boat then found to have taken on more than 10,000 litres of water, threatening to short-circuit the engine. With both water pumps broken, the crews were forced to bail out the water before stopping the leak.

“It’s a lot more fun to race when the weather is good and you can actually focus on racing rather than survival,” Ingvall admitted hours before a torn headsail forced him to retire.

The other boats to pull out of the race were Shamrock (rudder damage), Southern Excellence (rig failure), Wot Eva (engine issues), Bacardi (broken mast), Exile (steering problem) and Brindabella (torn mainsail).

The race got off to a dramatic start Sunday when Australian maxi Wild Thing hit a spectator boat in the opening dash but the damage was limited and the boat among the leaders late Monday.

Wild Oats XI led the pack out of Sydney Harbour and held the lead Monday as the front-runners hit the notorious Bass Strait crossing.

Closest behind were Investec Loyal and Ichi Ban, followed by Lahana, Wild Thing and Ran.

The 2010 Sydney to Hobart race includes entries from the United States, Britain, Italy and France.

Source: [Yahoo.com]