Lou Abrahams sailing to Hobart for 43rd time

• NEWS
• 25 Dec, 2005 03:30:00 PM

Lou Abrahams sailing to Hobart for 43rd time

Veteran Victorian yachtsman Lou Abrahams will be sailing in his 43rd Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race when his Sydney 38 Challenge lines up with the fleet on Sydney Harbour tomorrow, 26 December.

Veteran Victorian yachtsman Lou Abrahams will be sailing in his 43rd Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race when his Sydney 38 Challenge lines up with the fleet on Sydney Harbour tomorrow, 26 December.

Just as remarkable is that this will be the 41st time he has skippered his own yacht in the 628 nautical mile ocean race - and he is certainly in with a chance of notching up his third overall victory.

The Sandringham Yacht Club member and past Commodore’s sea-log as an owner/skipper is a record for Australia’s famous ocean race and is probably unmatched in any similar long ocean race in the world.

Lou’s only two races as a crewmember were his first races aboard Winston Churchill in 1962 and 1963.  From 1965 onwards he skippered his own boats variously named Odin, Vittoria, Challenge II, Challenge II, Ultimate Challenge, Challenge Again and, last year and again this year, his second Sydney 38 OD, Challenge.

He won the Illingworth Cup for overall handicap winner with Challenge II in 1983 and with Ultimate Challenge in 1989 and has also twice finished second and once third overall.

Apart from local races, the 78-year-old has also represented Australia internationally in the Admiral’s Cup in England and the Kenwood Cup in Hawaii.

That he has achieved such a remarkable career in ocean racing is a measure not only of Lou’s own sailing skills and seamanship but also of his choice of excellent crew to sail with him for many years.

Many of the present crew of Challenge have been sailing with Lou for a  decade and more.

“Carl (Schmidt) has been sailing with me since he was a 17-year-old coming out of dinghies, including the Olympic Finn Class,” Lou said in Sydney this week.

“He has worked his way up over the past 10 or 11 years to be my number one helmsman in inshore and offshore racing.

“Col Anderson is back with me after some five years of sailing on other boats; before than he had sailed 18 races with me, including both times when we won the Sydney Hobart,” the veteran yachtsman added.

Lou says he is taking every Rolex Sydney Hobart Race from now on “one step at a time” but this past year has seen him skipper Challenge in a number of major regattas, including winning Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s recent Savill’s Short Ocean Racing Championship against the local ‘heavies’ of the Sydney 38 One Design class.

“I don’t steer the boat these days; I leave that to the younger members of the crew and concentrate on navigation and tactics,” he added.

Pointing out that Sydney 38s have finished in high overall placings in recent Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Races, Lou says the Australian designed and built one-design class is still quite competitive in the long ocean race.

“However, the overall handicap result this year will be a lucky dip, with the maxis almost certain to be sailing in a different wind pattern to the rest of the fleet,” Lou predicts.

“In the past, the best chance to win a Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was to have a good middle rating boat and sail it very well throughout the 628 nautical mile course.

“With the maxis now so fast it is impossible to handicap the fleet with equality any more, taking into account the boat’s size and age of design and the weather.

“In the future, the CYCA may have to forget about an overall handicap winner and place the emphasis on competing in and winning handicap divisions,” he added. – Peter Campbell