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'Shippers' gives the thumbs up to 31 Rolex Sydney Hobarts

Home 2007 'Shippers' gives the thumbs up to 31 Rolex Sydney Hobarts

“If they didn’t sledge me then I’d start to think I wasn’t part of the team. It’s all done in jest. For me this is a great team, possibly the best in the world, and I am honoured to be part of it.”

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“We are only going if the old bloke goes,” one of the youthful team from Wild Oats XI shouted when owner Bob Oatley declared that he would prepare the yacht for an assault on four consecutive line honours in the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

“Yeah Shippers, make it 31,” another shouted to the applause of team mates.

The ‘old bloke’ being referred to was Peter Shipway, a 57 year old from Sydney with a legendary reputation in ocean racing. Despite being more than twice as old as many of the crew he is considered to be a vital part of the champion team and in some ways their mascot. The crew would not be the same without him.

Much taunting continued at yesterday’s crew lunch until the old bloke delivered his trademark smile and croaky laugh and gave them the thumbs up. He’d be there.

“They burn me – give me a hard time – all the time during a race,” he said, “but it’s all in fun. Most of the times when I go to do something I hear, ‘come on old man. Are you going to be OK or do you need a hand?’

“If they didn’t sledge me then I’d start to think I wasn’t part of the team. It’s all done in jest. For me this is a great team, possibly the best in the world, and I am honoured to be part of it.”

When Wild Oats XI powered across the finish line yesterday to claim her third straight line honours crown Shipway joined an excusive club. Of the approximately 45,600 sailors who have contested the race over its 63 year history, Shipway became one of a few with 30 starts to his credit.

His Rolex Sydney Hobart CV includes three wins on handicap and, as of yesterday, four line honours. And of all those achievements yesterday’s effort was the sweetest.

“There was something very special about today (28 December),” he said. “I guess it means more than the other races because the boat is so fast and exciting, that it was a record equalling effort, and because I was sailing with such a great team – even if they do bag me.”

Shipway said that apart from taking away the memory of the historic line honours this year he would best remember the final 12 nautical miles up the Derwent River to the finish.

“In all 29 previous races I’ve never seen the Derwent in such a bad mood,” he said. “We copped everything from the time we rounded the Iron Pot and entered the river. We were becalmed a one stage and minutes later we were reefed down and trying to cope with a squall of 28 knots.

Shipway would also remember the “bagging” he copped in this race. He yet again became the focus of much mirth, all because his dog, a long-haired Dauschaund named Banjo, “fell into the tide” at Woolwich Dock just before ‘The Oats’ departed for the race start.

Early in the race the yacht’s serial joker, Steve 'Mothballs' Jarvin came on deck and told the rest of the crew that Shipway, who was in his bunk and snoring loudly, suddenly shouted in his sleep “where’s my dog?” Fact or fiction, that was enough for the ’bagging’ to begin, and it lasted until after the finish. It even went down to some of the crew feigning that they were searching for Banjo onboard the yacht, just so ‘the old bloke’ wouldn’t fret.

Shipway said that one big advantage that came with sailing on a maxi, especially as you got older, was that the pain didn’t last as long – you were in Hobart in less than two days while some smaller yachts are struggling to be at the finish inside five days. However, there was plenty of pain for him last year, even though he was aboard Wild Oats XI. It wasn’t until after he arrived in Hobart that the pain he was experiencing in his, which came after he was smashed by a massive wave that swept across the deck, came as a result of his leg being broken.

While he loves the sensation of speed associated with the maxi there was a time when he actually got excited about reaching Hobart inside a week.

“That was back in my first race in 1968,” he explained. “I was on a tiny 30-footer with four other guys and we punished ourselves for seven days before we got here. We took three days just to reach Bass Strait whereas this year we were there in 12 hours. Back in ’68 I thought what we had done was a fantastic achievement, only because I was 18 and didn’t know any better.

“But if there was a good thing about that race it was that I was then hooked on ocean racing, and that’s why I’m here today.” - Rob Mundle