Even if it gets wet his rear end won’t be sore

• NEWS
• 21 Dec, 2017 03:38:00 PM

Even if it gets wet his rear end won’t be sore

He is not entirely sure because they don’t keep records of these things, but when Bill Wheeler steers his Beneteau 57 Vanishing Point across the line he thinks he could have set a new Rolex Sydney Hobart race record.

“I just might be the first skipper who has raced from Sydney to Hobart and also ridden a bike from Sydney to Hobart,” Wheeler laughs. “I did that three years ago, all 1700 kilometres in the charity Tour de Cure. Oddly enough, that ended at Constitution Dock too. This will be much quicker, and this time I won’t arrive in Hobart with such a sore backside.”

Actually, he will be unlucky if his nether regions even get wet. 

Vanishing Point is a stunner of a cruising boat. Her elegant dark blue hull features acres of space to soak up the sun - cavernous cockpit mid-ships - and below decks the timberwork is a joy to behold. No racing boat this one. What would once have been called a gentleman’s yacht.

“This is a boat to suit the whole family,” Wheeler says. “If you buy a racing boat you’ll sail alone.” 

Which, oddly, is just how he has done most of his sailing. Wheeler has always been a keen sailboarder, that most solitary of sailing pastimes, a very serious sailboarder, too. He competes in National Championships as well as just fanging around the bay. 

“I once came fourth in the Dufour Nationals,” he laments. “The first three placegetters were flown to Sardinia for the Worlds. I came fourth and I’m still not over it.”

But a few years ago he was wandering around a Vancouver marina killing time and spotted a small keelboat that he rather liked, and that set him thinking. And as these things sometimes will, it eventually lead to the purchase of the big, luxurious Vanishing Point.

Some people might think stepping up from a sailboard to a 57 foot keelboat could be akin to trading in your Ducati for a motor-home, but Wheeler has no regrets, “We’ve done so much on this boat. It’s priceless the fun we’ve had as a family cruising the Barrier Reef, the Whitsundays, and we will cruise Tasmania after the race.”

But Bill was always going to race Vanishing Point as well. “You can sail around Sydney all your life and still be the same standard, but getting out there and racing makes you a better sailor. We raced to Hamilton Island the first year, and we’ve done two Sydney Gold Coasts, and now it is time to do the Hobart.

“We’ve followed this race for years. It’s like the Bathurst 1000 or the footy Grand Finals, a part of living in Australia. If you get the chance to actually do one of these why wouldn’t you?

“Sailboarding is fast and exhilarating, and the thing with a boat like this is things are bigger, there are more strings, but the principles are the same. The mainsail is still a main, but now it’s about teamwork. It’s about bringing everyone together, and managing a crew for three or four days with little sleep. And if someone gets crook, that puts a lot of pressure on the others. When it is rough at sea, it’s still rough regardless of the shiny wood below.

“If we are getting 9 or 10 knots of boat speed, we’re really happy, while the TP52s will be doing 20, but the way I look at it, we’ve all paid the same entry fee and I get more time out on the course. It is all about having fun, and getting better at what you are doing.

“Our job is to get there. I don’t want to break things and have to retire. And if we do get there, it will have been well worth the entry fee.”

The race starts on Boxing Day at 1300hrs AEDT and will be broadcast live on the Seven Network throughout Australia.

Full list of entries and all information: http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/

By Jim Gale, RSHYR media