Emotional win for Wild Oats XI team

• NEWS
• 28 Dec, 2007 02:50:00 PM

Emotional win for Wild Oats XI team

In the end it was a historic line honours victory for Wild Oats XI, the first yacht in 59 years to lead the fleet across the line in three consecutive years. But owner Bob Oatley admits that just three months ago he believed that this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart was beyond his reach.

In the end it was a historic line honours victory for Wild Oats XI, the first yacht in 59 years to lead the fleet across the line in three consecutive years. But owner Bob Oatley admits that just three months ago he believed that this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart was beyond his reach.

Wild Oats XI suffered a dramatic dismasting off Porto Cervo in Sardinia during the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in September. To get a new mast built in New Zealand and new rigging and sails from America in enough time to be able to properly prepare the boat before Boxing Day seemed a very tall order.

It would put Oatley, his skipper Mark Richards and the entire Wild Oats XI team under enormous pressure. So it was a very happy and relieved Bob Oatley who welcomed his striking silver maxi into Hobart this morning. 

“This finish was very emotional, especially after the broken mast,” he said dockside, “thinking we wouldn’t get the boat ready for this race.  We not only got it ready but we won.”

After the dismasting, Oatley admits that he followed the race even more anxiously than normal. “We do everything there is to do to make sure the boat is right but sometimes that’s not enough, you don’t know what you’ve missed.”

Richards admits there were times during the race that he was pretty anxious too, particularly in the Derwent River. There they seemed to go through a whole race in 11 miles. Six sail changes as the wind ranged from almost nothing to 25 knots in the space of a few minutes. 

“It was the culmination of a difficult morning, with glory so tantalisingly close.

“We always thought that we had enough up our sleeve but we were becalmed at Tasman Island, Cape Raoul and halfway up the river,” said tactician Peter Shipway. 

“We parked three times, for quite some time,” Richards said. “Those are very
nerve-wracking times. After all the hard work to get to the Derwent and then park is not a great feeling.”

Throughout the morning a rampant City Index Leopard had been ripping miles out of Wild Oats XI’s lead.  “We pulled back 20 miles in the last six hours,” said City Index Leopard’s owner, Mike Slade, when he docked in Hobart after finishing 27 and a half minutes behind Wild Oats XI. 

“This morning it was our favoured breeze. Ninety per cent of the race was their race. They were 23 miles ahead of us at sunrise, and I think we got a better gybe angle coming into Tasman Island. I was thinking they were wounded in some way because we were watching them struggle coming up the river.

“We knew from the minute we started in Sydney that this year’s race would not hold ideal conditions for City Index Leopard, and that they suited Wild Oats XI beautifully. It’s just like race horses that are good on the flat; some prefer soft ground, some are better on hard ground. We’re better in the upwind breezier conditions, as we had in the Rolex Fastnet Race, and Wild Oats XI prefers the lighter conditions which we’ve seen for this event.

Despite his late charge, though, Slade believes that the race was decided during the first 10 hours of the race, when a brisk northerly delivered the fleet a vintage downhill ride along the New South Wales coast. 

“It was in the first afternoon and the first night with lightish airs we knew we were vulnerable to them and to Skandia and they put about 12 miles on us by going deeper, and we never got that back. And they got better and better.”

Mark Richards said it was a tough race tactically.

“There were a lot of sail changes through the two days and I’ve got to say the Derwent was unbelievably tough.  We had to work our butts off in the river,” he said.

“The guys are over the moon. To equal an historical record is sensational.”

City Index Leopard worked hard overnight to overcome a 20 nautical mile deficit and put pressure on Wild Oats XI in the race across Storm Bay and up the fickle Derwent River for line honours in this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart.

However, Wild Oats’ lead was simply too much, beating City Index Leopard to the Castray Esplanade finishing line by almost 28 minutes. For City Index Leopard skipper Mike Slade there was disappointment but also a tinge of satisfaction in being so close.

“Us Poms are pretty used to being thrashed by the Aussies so it comes as no surprise whatsoever that we just came second.”

Slade also hinted that City Index Leopard’s presence in the race ensured it would not be a one-way street.

“We gave them a tough look over their shoulder, and we are delighted we could give another dimension to this race otherwise it would have been another Wild Oats fanfare.”

Slade also believed that Wild Oats won the race during the first afternoon and night when the lighter maxi was able to exploit the fast downwind conditions. According to Slade, “We knew they were much faster than us in those conditions, and they proved to be.”

The crew of City Index Leopard kept the pressure on, knowing there is always the possibility in any yacht race of either gear failure or loss of wind, and Slade noted that a ‘shutdown’ off Tasman Island had affected yachts in previous races.

Slade did consider the possibility of going ‘bolder’ and steering a different course that would get City Index Leopard closer to Wild Oats XI.

“The weather and current predictions were so accurate that their (Wild Oats) line was our best line. Any other line would have us in oblivion,” Slade said.

As both maxis tacked up the Derwent it was evident that City Index Leopard would not be able to make up the four nautical mile lead in order to pressure Wild Oats XI, and Slade knew that.

“We couldn’t catch them … we were just delighted we could see them.”