Tough little boat keeps on trucking

• NEWS
• 29 Dec, 2005 09:07:00 AM

Tough little boat keeps on trucking

The second smallest boat in the Rolex Sydney Hobart fleet, Tow Truck, this morning reported that last night’s conditions were hard work and, at times, frightening.

The second smallest boat in the Rolex Sydney Hobart fleet, Tow Truck, this morning reported that last night’s conditions were hard work and, at times, frightening.

“We had some really wild rides last night and yesterday – it was terrifying,” said navigator Brett Filby aboard the 9.43m boat from Lake Macquarie NSW.

“We’ve currently got 30 plus knots of wind from the northwest and we’re doing 15 to 18 knots boat speed.

“It’s so wet out here and we’ve had a lot of knockdowns.

“It’s a very confused seaway and we had a tough night - the boys are having a lot of fun but are battered and tired.”

The conditions have worked through the boat’s supply of sails but, typical of this competitive crew and their little boat, they are committed to continuing the fight today.

“We’ve worked our way through our spinnaker wardrobe and now have a No 3 jib up with two reefs in the mainsail to reduce the sail area,” said Filby.

“We’ll try to sail with the whole crew on deck (7) all day today to make up time and pull Chutzpah back.

“We’ve got about 80 miles to go to Tasman Island.”

At the time of writing, Tow Truck was due to finish in Hobart at 10:33pm tonight.