The Yachts

Wild Thing

Wild Thing

 

Grant Wharington’s Wild Thing won line honours in the 2003 Rolex Sydney Hobart but the following year, leading the fleet to Hobart, she lost her canting keel, capsized and the crew abandoned ship. Wild Thing was rebuilt and went on to take line honours in the 2005 Sydney Gold Coast, Sydney Mooloolaba and Sydney Mackay races. In the 2008 Hobart Wild Thing finished second to Wild Oats XI after mounting a challenge for line honours.

2009 was a relatively quiet one for Wild Thing with Wharington and his crew until their delivery sail to Sydney, where the yacht was dismasted. Running the gauntlet to be ready for the start, a replacement mast was flown in from Europe and installed at the last minute, allowing Wild Thing to take to the start line. She retired shortly after the start due to issues relating to the mast but is ready to take on the seventh consecutive attempt at the 628 nautical mile ocean classic.

The design of this 30m maxi is an ongoing process with its configuration refined no less than five times since its launch in October 2003, including a new radical 7m keel for last year’s race.

 

Competitor Details

Yacht Name Wild Thing
Sail Number M10
Owner Grant Wharington
Skipper Grant Wharington (23)
Crew G Taylor (16), P Davis (14), D Witt (15), L Pritchard (2), P Heyes (8), M Donnan (2), C Williams (7), R Burns, J Fisher, K Inaba, M Allotti, J Brown
State VIC
Club MYC
Type Maxi
LOA 30.0
Beam 4.99
Draft 6.84