The deadly Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race (1998)

[thomm225]

Good documentary on Youtube of the race and events that occurred.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEC6DQn6AZI

[donradcliffe]

Brings back memories. I was walking the dock at the CYA in 1998, looking for a ride. About 3 days before the race, the weather forecasts convinced me that was a bad idea, and so I switched to the Pittwater-Coffs Harbor race, which started in a gale, but went downwind to somewhere warmer.

The end result of all the post-race inquiries was that they required more safety equipment on future races, but still never considered that the obvious solution would have been to call all the competitors when the storm warning came out at 2 pm and tell them to go back to Sydney to await a restart. Contrast this to the current Transat Jacques Vabre, where most classes have been postponed over a week due to weather conditions. As a Race Official, I WILL err on the side of safety every time.

I think the most telling part was the statements at the end of the video "There are conditions on the sea which are beyond the capability of men to withstand".

[Montanan]

Nota bene: Don't race and survive.

Just saying.

[Tin Tin]

Originally Posted by Montanan

Nota bene: Don't race and survive.

Just saying.

And that is what 27 competitor of the 115 did, retired, the reason "prudent seamanship" - i.e. the skippers call.

[donradcliffe]

More like 71 of the 115 starters did not finish. Some retired, some did not have the opportunity to retire.

[thomm225]

Another prospective of the race and storm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgsp_kHicu8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5554FxUXwg&t=11s

[JPA Cate]

I am not watching the videos. Data issues.

Jim and I were here in Oz that year. The slower boats managed to duck into Twofold Bay, anchor, and wait for safer conditions. Those skippers still deserve to be lauded. It is difficult to turn back, to seek shelter, when others continue on. The herd mentality is a real thing, and so is loss of face.

Still, I don't agree with Montanan on this issue. I think the skippers should not be overridden in their decisions. I do disagree that the sponsor should delay the start (to show a "duty of care"). It sets a trend away from individual responsibility, and the fact is that if everyone relies on someone else to tell him or her it is safe, it will not improve their skippering skills.

A number of acquaintances of ours were aboard those boats that year, and what happened is horrific. And, of course I regret the loss of life, and what the survivors had to deal with afterwards, who watched their skipper die in conditions where no rescue would have been even possible.

But I also think that the decisions made around duty of care have led to some extremely disappointing circumstances, as well. Imagine club rules to cancel races when wind strengths above 25 knots are forecast! We've countless hours off the wind in the 30-35 kn. range, and even in 45, which is fatiguing, but safe enough, imo, if one is prepared for it, and cruisers and racers should be.

Skippers' responsibility.


Ann

[thomm225]

Ann,

Thanks for your input.

Always good to get info from those close by with friends and/or acquaintances involved.

Tom

[donradcliffe]

Ann, it isn't just the skippers and their crews who are put at risk. The rescue agencies should have a say, too. If I was in charge in 1998, when the weather service upgraded to storm warnings 2 hours after the start, I would have told the fleet "If you want to sail to Hobart today, its your decision, but our race will restart tomorrow or the next day."

In Santa Cruz, I cancel winter club races on days that the surf is breaking across the harbor entrance. Its my decision not to send the committee boats out in hazardous conditions.

I wish you had the bandwidth to watch the videos. I think anyone considering purchasing a condomaran with vertical windows and sliding doors should be required to watch them first. Just remember that there were no videos of the bigger WAVES that rolled and broke those boats.

Just for fun, I searched the internet for the 1982 Farallones Double Handed race, which I participated in. The weather forecast before the 0800 start was for 15 to 25. As we were in the starting sequence, few of the 127 starters listen to the 0800 forecast which changed to a gale warning. Wind were light after the start, but started to steadily build. We made the decision to quit when we were 5 miles from the islands, because we were seeing 40 knots and it was an upwind slog back to the Golden Gate. At some point, the masthead anemometer pegged at 60 knots, and stayed there for 3 hours. Visibility was poor in heavy rain, and this was pre-GPS days, so I was concerned about laying the Gate. The rain lifted and I could see and anchored ship and Duxbury point. At that point it became just a heavy weather beat that the Newport 41 could handle. The waves weren't bad because the wind was offshore.

In the race, 4 people in two boats were never seen again, and 17 were rescued. Some people rode their boats into the beach or cliffs and jumped off. Two more non-racers died when they tried to tie off to the ship and their boat sunk. To hold that race today requires a Coast Guard permit which they can yank whenever they feel like it.

[Jim Cate]

^^^^

Don, I reckon that the race officials for the S2H race have so much invested in TV cover, advertisements and testosterone patches that they will never cancel a start. But I wholly agree that cancelling club level races for bad forecasts is a good idea. The skippers and crews include many without the experience to accurately evaluate the risks involved or to safely negotiate the race course in adverse conditions. They benefit from the wisdom (hopeful) of the experienced committees and live to race the next weekend.

And I remember that 1982 doublehanded Farallones race... and I was glad that I was only doing the singlehanded races then!

Jim

[thomm225]

The boats have changed quite a bit from back in 1998 for this race:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYagYLSyv9w

[thomm225]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVdMqHGM3Ng

[Montanan]

At the start of the race there was a gale warning out [average winds 34-47 knots / 63-88 kph] and a few hours later it was upgraded to storm-force warning [average winds of 48 to 63 knots / 89-117 kph, which is category two tropical cyclone strength].



"The wind whipped up really high seas. The waves were quite steep and there was a strong southerly current,"

"What we call the significant wave height was six to seven metres and you get higher waves and smaller waves in there.

"The highest recorded on this oil rig [in the Bass Strait] was 11 to 12 metres but there were reports from ships that were even higher than that.

"There were reports of waves up in the 10 to 15m range, which is a few storeys if you're looking at a building.

"Imagine those waves [being] quite steep, then the yachts were quite small comparably. [It was] a really tragic event being stuck in that,"

On top of the wind and the waves there was also a thunderstorm with heavy rain and very low visibility.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-...ssons%20Learnt

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

^^^^

Don, I reckon that the race officials for the S2H race have so much invested in TV cover, advertisements and testosterone patches that they will never cancel a start. But I wholly agree that cancelling club level races for bad forecasts is a good idea. The skippers and crews include many without the experience to accurately evaluate the risks involved or to safely negotiate the race course in adverse conditions. They benefit from the wisdom (hopeful) of the experienced committees and live to race the next weekend.

And I remember that 1982 doublehanded Farallones race... and I was glad that I was only doing the singlehanded races then!

Jim

i agree with jim : doubt if a hobart start will be postponed. too much of a media frenzy these days and income from the race is the only thing keeping cyca afloat

however many other cat 2 offshore races in australia have been postponed or cancelled due to weather - since '98.

do not recall it happening before this though

cheers,

[JPA Cate]

True, not many people would have caught the upgrade in f/c.

Ann