Melbourne to Hobart -The Power of One

by John Curnow with Nigel Jones on 19 Dec 2009
In 1999, just the one yacht finished the testing Melbourne to Hobart. In those days there was only the one Ocean Racing Club of Victoria race to Hobart - the mighty Westcoaster - and the one boat to finish that year, was ‘Cadibarra 7'.

I spoke with her Skipper, Nigel Jones, recently, as we recounted stories and he delved into his treasure trove of notes to find some details. I am not sure I want to say thanks for reminding me that it was 10 years ago, in a lot of ways it really does seem like yesterday, but there you have it. I'll just have to build a bridge on that one.

By way of reference, when I got home that year, my cousin who is an airline pilot, told me that the Low down in the Southern Ocean, was just that - LOW. In its centre it was 945Hpa, as it barrelled along in the Screaming Sixties.

In 1999, I was attempting my second Westcoaster. The first, even further back than this, had not been completed, so it was fair to say that I was driven. Bill 'Captain Raw' Rawson had just bought the venerable Adams20, ‘Helsal II' and we seriously eyed off the record for the Westcoaster.

Onboard ‘Helsal II', we smashed across The Paddock, aka Bass Strait, just as we indeed had done out Port Phillip Heads. Increasing conditions for sure, but not yet onerous and the pace was sensational. I remember thinking I could well get used to this.

Once opened up, the Adams 20 really could get into a marvellous canter. If I remember correctly, we roared through East of King Island. We were that far in front, that it seemed weird when the first radio skeds revealed the beginning of the retirees.

Here were they, not even at King Island, whereas we were now hammering down that ever-so-remarkable West coast.

South of Cape Sorrell, we were six hours in front of then record, as held by that supersled, ‘Futureshock'. Her owner, Peter Hansen, has passed away now, but that record stood until just last year, when the former TP52, ‘Shortwave', took a hefty five hours off the account.

It was then that we hit the wall. Literally. The boat was new to Bill, the galley, amongst other things, had come away and we were doing 10knots (boat speed) under storm jib, launching the 15 tonne old girl off the top of these frightfully backless waves.

Yes. They really hurt! Down below the late Gary Clapham (miss you buddy – he loved the Westcoaster) was Navigator and performing the calculations. I used to 'sleep' on the long bunks either side of the nav desk, so I could still take in all the important info.

Clear as if it is now, I can hear Gary calling to Bill and Simon ‘Slim' Dryden that 'We did 3nm for the last watch!'

(Through tacking angles about as wide as the Great Sandy Desert I feel compelled to add.) Then a moment later, 'Oh hang on - make that 0.3', at which point that news, combined with the current weather forecasts and ETA blowouts was enough for Captain Raw to make the executive call.

Slim went up to ease the mainsheet for the turn and noticed that, 'it was all slimy and warm'. Nice. Obviously very recent, as there were plenty of greenies to wash all the street art away - super regularly. We had been seeing 5m+ ones for a while by then…
[Sorry, this content could not be displayed]
We had also opened up 40nm on ‘Cadibarra 7' and only saw her lights on the horizon, one and half hours after turning. Once we had changed course at Cape Grim (NW Tasmania), all was surprisingly good, yet it was still blowing dogs off chains down the West coast and would continue to do so for days to come.

Over on ‘Cadibarra 7', Nigel's Log brings even more of the race to life. The crew departed a rainy Melbourne for Mornington to collect the boat after the COB on Boxing Day. They were always well prepared and had just seen the very latest weather information. 'We were wishing they were going down the East coast instead!' Nigel commented.

Still, they loaded their boat and headed for the Portsea start, which was in a light SE breeze and headed out to sea, the next boat behind ‘Helsal II'. Nigel adds, 'After clearing the heads, we set a course for the top of King Island.

A course to the West of K.I. was part of a definite strategic plan, formulated before the start of the race, and settled on once we were reasonably confident of the weather to come for the next 24 hours or so. A major factor influencing our decision to head to the West of K.I. was the expected Southerly change due around 12 hours after the start.

Being West would take us further away from the Low-Pressure system that affected the race for nearly the whole time. It would also enable us to avoid the tidal gate between K.I. and Tasmania, which potentially was going to be quite unpleasant.'

Of course, it went from good to ordinary, on its way to hellish in the end and they were reducing sail quickly as night bore down. 'By sunrise the following morning, we had tacked and were heading towards the West coast of King Island. We reached the coast about two-thirds down the Island around breakfast time and tacked back out to the West.

The wind was blowing from the South at up to 25 by now with seas still fairly even at around 3m. We put a fairly long leg out West, not tacking back in until we were able to lay well down the Tasmanian coast. The ABC Chopper caught up with us early in the afternoon, now sailing with two tucks and the #2, but still travelling reasonably comfortably, given the conditions', Nigel explained.

They were down to three reefs and mid 30's for breeze, also only able sail as high as a close reach in the 5m seas. Losing three crewmembers to sea-sickness brought on a change to a three-watch system and an even more of an effort from all left to keep the fluids and snacks going in.

They missed the 0600hrs sked of the morning of December 29, which was very much a departure from their usual efficiency and radioed in soon thereafter. As a result, though, they had no idea on the fleet positions and Helsal II's retirement. 'The wind by now was regularly gusting up to 45, the seas were quite big but not threatening; overall it was quite unpleasant.'

Later on in the morning, with still enough crew to keep the boat going, they had no reason to stop. However, Nigel raised the question with the crew as to how they were feeling, suggesting an option of stopping in the lee of Cape Sorrel for a couple of hours to tidy up, have a meal then head out again - retiring was not an option that was given.

Nigel was told in no uncertain terms to keep going! 'The wind and waves stayed up all day and night and we encountered the worst weather that night. We were hit by some big waves, often with little more warning than a last-second shout from the helmsman to 'Hang On!' but we were never knocked down', Nigel's log reveals.

A nasty shock brought December 30 to life. 'When shortly after sunrise, while still sailing along in 30 - 35 with 3 reefs and #4, one of our runner blocks blew apart. Thank God for Carbon-fibre masts. The block broke as we came down off a wave, just as we had been doing for the previous 3 days. We didn't hear the block go with all the noise you have when sailing in those conditions.

However, from where I was sitting steering, I knew there was something wrong as I saw the forestay flexing off severely, and the main trimmer immediately felt the main sag as the mast bent severely. I looked up and noticed the runner floating around in the air above my head - PANIC!

After luffing the boat up, Willi quickly worked out that we could get the leeward runner on without affecting the main too badly because of having three reefs in. We got out a spare block and a couple of shackles and jury-rigged the runner satisfactorily. We had been sailing with backed off runners since the first evening so were quite shocked the block had failed. If our mast had been Aluminium, it is most unlikely that it would have survived', is the way it is remembered by Nigel.

The weather played havoc with the instruments, the chartplotter went (they had relied on the handheld GPS from the second day) and the battery terminals kept working loose. The other thing that fell apart was our stove, which had come off its pintles with all the bouncing on the second night. It was in bits and pieces in the galley area on the cabin floor. Now on day four, we hadn't had anything hot to eat or drink since the first evening.'

As luck would have it, the next morning saw the weather abate somewhat and the next thing they knew, they were laying South West Cape! 'However, it was probably only half an hour after tacking we started to get lifted and were for the first time since turning at the Heads three days earlier we were able to lay course. What a good feeling that was! Suddenly bodies started to appear from all places from the back of the boat as things looked up. We were now two sail reaching in about 12kts from the South. The ABC chartered chopper arrived at around 1000 and stayed with us for 20 min or so, filming and taking photos' Nigel said.

'At around 1300 hours, we arrived at the Cape. During the lighter moments heading there, we had found the pieces for the stove and, with the help of the most important boat repair item - duct tape - managed to get it back in working order. A meal of the World's Best Beef Stroganoff (as voted by all present) was prepared for lunch, and it was just about eaten out of the pots on the stove by the famished crew. I think the pots themselves were licked clean!'

As they approached Maatsuyker Island, a brief radio call came in from the island, asking them 'What took you so long to get there?' as they'd been watching for the fleet for some time. They wished ‘Cadibarra 7' all the best for the remainder of the race and a Happy New Year. 'We passed Maatsuyker doing about 10kts on a starboard gybe, unable to lay South East Cape. We gybed shortly afterwards, still unable to lay SE Cape but deciding to get inshore a bit. The wind blew up and before we knew it, we were doing 15 - 16 knots in the right direction with the wind now blowing 25 from behind. When we started to do 17 - 18 knots, we decided it was a bit too exciting for that stage of the race and we took the kite down and went to a poled out #2.' Seems like prudence can prevail in the end.

Hammering on at possibly the best part of 20knots (remember their instruments were a bit ordinary) they did a couple of more gybes, which turned out to be grannies and started to get hit by rainsqualls blowing over 30knots, and began to think that, 'discretion might be the better part of valor', so a reef went in.

Now surfing, they chose not to go inside the Friars off South Bruny Island, which was a popular decision amongst the crew, Nigel told me and I am not surprised at all. David James' ‘Jubilation' was 120nm astern and Cadibarra 7 still had a way to go. In order to finish first, first you have to finish! As they rounded South Bruny at dusk, going very fast, they passed a floating mass of kelp that 'looked like it could stop an oil tanker and were escorted by a huge pod of very large and very active dolphins.'

'Cadibarra 7' hit the Derwent River with the wind still up, doing 14 knots while two sail reaching. The wind didn't really start to falter until two thirds of the way up the river, but thankfully it held in all the way to the finish. They finished at around 0200 of 31st December, in a time of some 3 days and 14 hours for the 440nm course (average). It was raining and freezing cold when they got to the Elizabeth St Pier, but they were welcomed by a crowd of family, friends, TV cameras - and most importantly – 'Sam Sabey with his slab of Bundy & Coke!'

For 2009, the M2HW is shaping up as the old salts race. Ten years has elapsed for all of us, so no one in the gathering will be getting shirty about the 'old' bit. There's another of our ship driver mates going, in Angus Fletcher (‘Tevake II'), Laurie Ford (‘Spirit of Downunder') and Justin Brennan who had ‘Western Morning' then and ‘Alien' now.
There were also plenty of well-known names in the 20 entries that got away in 1999. Obviously Robin Hewitt and ‘Yoko' were there (doing their 18th consecutive M2H in that year and 28th now!!!). The boats may well have changed, but even some of their names are still around, like current MOC holders, Paul Buchholz's ‘Extasea', the current version of which is a DK46.

Peter Blake was there with ‘Kaos', a boat that still holds the M2AB record. Peter went on to lengthen ‘Cadibarra 7' for Osaka, call her ‘Kontrol' and still holds the M2S record with her. Incidentally, the majority of the ‘Cadibarra 7' crew have, (prior to retirement) or still are, sailing with Peter Blake and Kate Mitchell now, aboard their Farr52, ‘Goldfinger'.

Phil Coombs had ‘First Priority' then, Phil Bedlington had ‘Sports Med 53' (he now has ‘Under Capricorn' and is doing the M2HE this year), David James with ‘Jubilation' (not much of that on any other boat than Cadi that year I suspect…), James Kellett with ‘Color Solutions' and Joe Westerlo with the wonderful Elliott, ‘Prowler'. Tony Grundy had an Adams/Radford ‘Morning Star' then and has the Radford ‘Trim' now. Rosie Colahan was there and now has ‘Ingénue'. There are absolutely tens of stories just in that lot and I know I have not got everyone, so if I have missed you and you want to type me a few lines, then I'll make a separate piece about all that.

As crews prepare for the 2009 races, Nigel was kind enough to pass on his thoughts as to why they made it back in 1999. They are good reminders for all who are departing the Heads on the 27th.

'In hindsight now, we believe the main reasons we finished the 1999 Melbourne to Hobart Westcoaster, despite the atrocious conditions, were:

• Having a very well designed (by Don Jones), built (by Mal Hart) and maintained boat
• Going West of King Island
• Mainsail with 3 reefs - changing between main and trysail is best avoided if possible
• Having third reef moused with a continuous mouse system (Editor; and a change down a gear early policy)
• Having a #4 or large storm Jib (we also had a small one)
• Changing to a 3 watch system to preserve the crew
• Sufficient crew with good stomachs to keep the boat going
• A balanced crew in terms of ages and experience, ranging from 19 to 60 something, with around 60 Hobart (Sydney and Melbourne) races in total, including 4 Westcoaster first timers
• Sam Sabey's commitment of a slab of Bundy waiting on the dock in Hobart
• Persistence/Madness - haven't worked out which!' (Editor; no comment from me!)

Now, one of the other things to remember when it's all getting a bit hard and this should definitely help the motivation too, is that one boat in each of the four Christmas Time races that the ORCV conducts, will be joining 'Pretty Woman' in owning one of the McConaghy Melbourne Offshore Championship flags, which denotes you are in the running for the sensational McConaghy carbon fibre steering wheel at the end of the season.
It is little wonder then, that of the 15 Melbourne and Sydney Hobarts Nigel has done, the 1999 M2H 'Was by far the best feeling I've had at the end.' Onboard ‘Cadibarra 7' with Nigel, were David Ash, James Bacon, Nathan Edwards, Scott Esler, Werner Foik, Cameron McKenzie, Willi Mehrmann, Greg Patten, John Petkovsek, Barry Pollock and Clark Swan

I've been fortunate to sail with a lot of these guys in the last few years and thrilled that they are my friends. If it all went to hell, I'd certainly want them with me, as we took on Man's Oldest Challenge. They deserved to be the one and only finisher in 1999.

[Sorry, this content could not be displayed]