BT winner's Hobart race

Former LG Flatron skipper Conrad Humphreys recounts his story from the Sydney-Hobart race

BT Global Challenge winner Conrad Humphreys sailed the Sydney-Hobart on a Iain Murray 41 footer. While around Sydney fires raged, offshore a powerful twister (waterspout) lay in wait for the fleet. This is his account of the tough ocean classic which saw 18 boats retire, yet more rudder damage to the Volvo 60s and a breathtaking view of the windless Derwent River which would have its final say over the finishing results:

Eight months before the annual Boxing Day classic, I was having a beer with Will Oxley, skipper of Compaq during the BT Global Challenge stopover in Cape Town. We were talking about Bass Strait and he suggested that I come back to Sydney and sail the Hobart. It seemed an odd choice having witnessed the fury of the Strait in a 72 foot Challenge yacht - why go back and sail it in a 41 footer?! I've never been able to rationalise those sort of decisions. So when Will reminded me that I had agreed to sail - I got on a plane and flew out.

This was certainly not the Sydney-Hobart experienced a few years ago. It was however not without drama and certainly the first night shock our Iain Murray 41 Zoe to the core as we beat into a difficult wind over tide set in 30 kts of breeze.

That first night also exposed us to the most powerful waterspout I've seen. It loomed just less than a mile away, twisting and winding in complete fury. The smoke plume from the NSW fires stretched across the race track and just behind the trailing edge was a deepening thunderstorm. It was under this that the twister existed. Negotiating a twister can be tricky as the wind direction and strength close to the wall can be fairly erratic.

Day two took us into the Bass Strait. The breeze was hard out of the SW as we had hooked nicely into a two knot southerly current. The wind over tide situation was producing some steep seas and provided a difficult call: you want to find the fastest flow south and yet you know that this will be the most dangerous part of the Bass Strait. The damage was taking its toll as the maxi Wild Thing retired followed later by the Open 60 Grundig pulled out with delamination and Ausmaid (SAP) got dismasted. For us on Zoe, we were fully in the groove, up with the 50"footers and sailing well. Could this be our race?

A simple shake out of a reef at night cost us an hour of downtime as the hardboard, trapped under the leeward runner was wound up without checking. The result was a badly bent headboard, a broken leechline and 12 inches of luff boltrope torn out.

Ordinarily this sort of repair wouldn't take long to fix, however without the mainsail up in 30kts of wind with breaking seas it was tough. Zoe, without power to climb over the steep waves was knocked about for a little over an hour. More importantly we tacked two hours too late and missed a good shift. The next sched saw us take our first knock as the yachts to the west had made a few miles on us.

Into day three and the breeze started to swing into the west and then north west. Zoe has a good inventory of sails,and having spent $6,000 dollars on a new blast reacher, Wayne Millar, our skipper was obviously keen to use it. We took off, everyone racked and stacked on the rail and working the main on every wave. If we were to make gains on the fifty footers, it was now that we needed to push hard.

On the BT Global Challenge, I always thought the first 72 hours of the race were the most critical. On a race like this its all over after the first 72 hours.

We peeled to the 1.5 kite late on that day and with some clean sets were now surfing at up to 18/19 kts. During a watch change, Wayne noticed that the speed was 3-4 kts down and we just weren't staying on the waves. We dropped the kite and rounded the boat up to check for weed on the foils. With the water temperature at 12 degrees and being one of two Poms onboard - I looked at Chris Fay (ex Compaq watchleader) who figured that it would be him to take the swim. Luckily as we backed the boat up to large tails of weed drifted off the keel and once the kite was hoisted we were back up to speed. It was time to grab a few hours ZZZs before the final run around Tasman Island and the tricky stretch up the Derwent.

On the BT we never saw Tasmania. Remaining 80 miles offshore, we slid around and headed south into the Roaring 40s without a chance to notice its incredible landscape. Will Oxley, skippered Compaq and still remarks that this was the turning point of that race. Coming to terms with sitting off Macquarie Island on the eastern coast for 9 hours and watching us slide away still rangles.

That night we rounded Tasman Island close inshore. The wind was gusty and combined with the swell and backwash from the cliffs we were in a melting pot. A couple of gusts knocked us flat as we past Raul Point and headed into Storm Bay. A forty mile beat was ahead of us to the finish. With tide running out through the entrance at Iron Pot, we decided to hug the northern side. Rounding Iron Pot as the sun rose over the organ pipe-shaped cliffs was spectacular and once again any justification for sailing the Sydney-Hobart was instantly there. The scenery was breathtaking and gradually as we worked our way up the river dotted signs of civilisation started to appear.

With nine miles to go to the finish line the breeze died in behind the cliffs. As each puff came down the river we went one boatlength forward and two back with the tide. As we sat motionless in the clutches of the Derwent, our chances of a podium position gradually faded. Finally the deadlock broke and a fresh set of breeze found us beating the last few miles in 25 knots of wind. We crossed the line at 1000 local time, the 13th yacht to finish on the water and first 40 footer to Hobart. Now the waiting game for the slower boats to see how we faired on handicap.