Thanks for comments on the pics and cover. It is rewarding as I try to
work this out from scratch. The text that you saw was first
draft and more to come. Hope to sell enough ads to fund 5 or 6 pages for the event but you take what you get and do what you must. here is some info about this amazing boat that includes the answer to your question and more...
"Winner of Line Honours in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht
Race 2003, Overall Winner of Hamilton Island Race Week 2004 and
China Coast
Regatta 2004, and Line Honours Winner of many other
events, 'Skandia' is undoubtedly the most successful Australian super-maxi ever.
In December 2003, three months after launch date, Grant Wharington skippered his Victorian designed and built 98' high-tech canting
keel carbon fibre super-maxi 'Skandia' to a well-publicised victory in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race, entering the
history book as the first Victorian yacht ever to win Line Honours in this world-renowned ocean race.
Their next Sydney Hobart was not such a happy event. Early on the 28th of December 2004, in the
pitch black of night whilst leading the fleet in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race 2004, the cylinders controlling the massive 14 ton canting keel failed, causing irreparable damage, and spelling the end of Team Skandia - Wild Thing's challenge for "back to back" Line Honours wins.
After many hours of trying to stabilise the keel, at 8 am it became clear that this would not be possible, and so the crew abandoned ship, leaving Wharington's beloved super-maxi to face the Bass Strait alone.
As expected the keel eventually fell out of the yacht, and the yacht capsized breaking her
mast in 4 places, and losing almost everything (bar a couple of pairs of shoes and 2 anchors) from inside. She was eventually towed to Lady Barron, Flinders Island, put on a barge to Port Welshpool and then brought by low-loader back home to Mornington. Her arrival was in stark contrast to her arrival excatly a year before, when the victorious crew had been welcomed by thousands of well wishers at Mornington Yacht Club.
However, not to be discouraged, Wharington and his team set about rebuilding the
maxi as soon as they could, and the
rebuild is now well under way. They plan to campaign Skandia Wild Thing #2 in
Europe and will be
shipping the yacht from Melbourne to
Southampton in May 2005. Don Jones, Chief
Designer, has taken the opportunity to optimise his
record breaking design and the yacht will model a larger more powerful rig, plus some other smaller changes.
The
legal case regarding the cylinder failure is also under way, and the team are hopeful for a quick and positive outcome."
Special breed aint they!
Cheers
Bob